Primetime Ratings: ABC Tops on Soft Night
ABC won Tuesday night with a 1.0 rating in viewers 18-49, per Nielsen’s overnights, and a 4 share. ABC had Christmas specials (Toy Story That Time Forgot, Shrek the Halls) from 8-9 p.m., then The Year 2016 did a 1.0 from 9 to 11 p.m.
It was a night when America was doing things besides watching broadcast TV, be it Christmas shopping or bingeing on Netflix’s The OA. With a busy week so far in terms of global news, many were tuned to the cable news networks for the latest.
NBC and CBS both put up a 0.8 and 3 share, while Fox did a 0.6/2 and The CW a 0.3/1.
CBS had repeated dramas while NBC went with music specials. Michael Buble Sings and Swings did a 0.8, as did Tony Bennett Celebrates 90.
Fox had repeats 8-9 before Scream Queens did a flat 0.5.
The CW had Terry Crews Saves Christmas and The Greatest Holiday Commercials Countdown both at 0.3.
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Michael Malone is content director at B+C and Multichannel News. He joined B+C in 2005 and has covered network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television, including writing the "Local News Close-Up" market profiles. He also hosted the podcasts "Busted Pilot" and "Series Business." His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The Boston Globe and New York magazine.