Primetime Ratings: ‘American Idol’ Down From Last Year’s Debut

ABC won the Sunday ratings race, as the American Idol premiere led the network to a 1.4 in viewers 18-49, per the Nielsen overnights, and a 6 share. CBS and NBC tied for second at 0.8/3.

America’s Funniest Home Videos started off ABC prime up 38% at 1.1 and the season premiere of American Idol, the competition series’ second season on ABC, did a 1.7. That was off 26% from last year’s premiere.

On CBS, 60 Minutes grew 25% to 1.0 and God Friended Me went up 17% to 0.7. NCIS: Los Angeles went north 29% to 0.9 and Madam Secretary grew 50% to 0.6.

On NBC, a World of Dance recap episode led into a new show at 1.0 from 8 to 10 p.m., down 29% from its Feb. 26 debut. The Good Girls season starter did a 0.7, off 53% from last season’s premiere.

Fox did a 0.7/3. Comedy reruns led into The Simpsons at a flat 0.9 and Bob’s Burgers down 11% at 0.8. Family Guy lost 11% for a 0.8 and led into a repeat.

Telemundo scored a 0.5/2 as La Voz got a 0.5 from 9 to 11. Univision did a 0.3/1.

The CW too did a 0.3/1. Supergirl rated a 0.4 and Charmed a 0.3, both up a tenth.

Michael Malone

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.