NBC is taking a victory lap.
The network has once again won the broadcast premiere week. This marks the fifth straight year that it has beat out ABC, CBS and Fox in the opening week of the broadcast season and its twelfth straight win in the 18-49 demo.
It won the week commencing September 25 with 6.8M average viewers, its highest total viewers for a premiere week since 2019.
This is in contrast with ABC’s 4.6M, CBS’ 2.9M and Fox’s 2.5M across the week. NBC was up 13% in total viewers, compared to ABC up 1%, CBS down 25% and Fox down 36%.
Now bear in mind, NBC had the launch of The Irrational, one of the few new scripted series, while the other networks have lost their big scripted shows. ABC is running a reality heavy schedule with the likes of The Golden Bachelor and Dancing with the Stars, CBS has been airing the first season of Yellowstone and scripted pick-ups such as SEAL Team and the UK original of Ghosts don’t launch until November and Fox is similarly relying on unscripted shows such as The Masked Singer, Snake Oil and Gordon Ramsay shows rather than its traditional scripted fare.
Talking of reality, The Voice and America’s Got Talent were the only two non-sports and news shows to crack the top 12. The Voice came in at ninth and tenth, while AGT came in at eleventh and twelfth in a list dominated by NFL across NBC, Fox and ABC as well as CBS’ 60 Minutes.
In the demo, NBC was up 15% to a 1.26, ABC was down 5% to 0.9, Fox was down 32% to a 0.61 and CBS was down 35% with a 0.28.
Expect better numbers for the other networks as they begin to roll out new shows.
