- In 2006 and 2010, it was a big story when American Idol would thump the Winter Olympics head-to-head. I always figured there would be enough collective erosion that an entertainment series couldn't pull that off in 2014. But The Walking Dead has done pretty much everything else, so why not this? The series returned with a phenomenal 15.8 million viewers, including 10.4 million adults 18-49 viewers. That's down about 300,000 total viewers from the fall premiere's record, and the 18-49 rating was a virtual tie with the fall premiere's series high. UPDATE: As projected on Monday afternoon, when taken out to the hundredth the rating was 8.17, or two hundredths shy of the record.
- I'll put up a 2014 vs. 2010 Olympics chart starting with the Monday post, but Sunday's finals uptick ended up putting it slightly ahead of the corresponding 2010 night (7.0). (This might be because the 7:00 half-hour was not counted in finals.) CBS aired a brilliant piece of counter-programming in a 150-minute special on The Beatles; it attracted mostly out-of-demo attention (14 million viewers), but cast a wide enough net that it still posted a very good 18-49 number (2.1).
FULL TABLE:
| Info | Show | Timeslot | True | |||||||
| A18-49 | Skew | Last | LeLa | Rank | y2y | TLa | Ty2y | |||
| America's Funniest Home Videos (R) | 1.3 | 31% | +189% | -30% | 1.2 | |||||
| Movie: Toy Story 3 | 1.0 | 41% | n/a | +74% | -45% | 1.1 | ||||
| Castle (R) | 0.7 | 29% | -39% | +0% | 1.0 | |||||
| ABC: | +45% | -35% | ||||||||
| 60 Minutes | 1.1 | 15% | -45% | -0.9 | n/a | 17/17 | -39% | n/a | -39% | 1.1 |
| The Beatles: The Night that Changed America | 2.1 | 19% | n/a | n/a | -80% | 2.1 | ||||
| The Millers (R) | 0.8 | 23% | n/a | -92% | 0.8 | |||||
| CBS: | n/a | -79% | ||||||||
| Winter Olympics | 7.2 | 35% | +14% | +0.9 | n/a | 1/3 | n/a | +1340% | +760% | 6.7 |
| NBC: | +1340% | +652% | ||||||||
| Bob's Burgers (R) | 0.6 | 53% | n/a | -45% | 0.6 | |||||
| American Dad! (R) | 0.7 | 55% | n/a | -50% | 0.9 | |||||
| The Simpsons (R) | 1.1 | 54% | n/a | -48% | 1.3 | |||||
| Bob's Burgers (R) | 1.1 | 57% | n/a | -39% | 1.2 | |||||
| Family Guy (R) | 1.5 | 64% | n/a | -40% | 1.6 | |||||
| American Dad! (R) | 1.2 | 60% | n/a | -40% | 1.2 | |||||
| Fox: | n/a | -43% | ||||||||
| Big4: | -69% | -13% | ||||||||
KEY (click to expand)
A18-49 - Adults 18-49 rating. Percentage of US TV-owning adults 18-49 watching the program.
Skew - Percentage of adults 18-49 within the show's total viewership.
Last - A18-49 difference (percent and numerical) from the show's previous episode.
LeLa - A18-49 difference between the show's lead-in and its lead-in for the previous episode.
Rank - The A18-49 rating's rank among the show's episodes so far this season.
y2y - Percent difference between A18-49 and the show's rating a year ago.
TLa - Percent difference between A18-49 and the network's rating in the timeslot one week ago.
Ty2y - Percent difference between A18-49 and the network's rating in the timeslot one year ago.
True - A metric that adjusts the A18-49 rating for overall viewing levels, competition and lead-in. PRELIMINARY CALCULATION. For finals, see SpotVault.
(R) - Repeat.
Much more detail on these numbers at the New Daily Spotted Ratings page.
Skew - Percentage of adults 18-49 within the show's total viewership.
Last - A18-49 difference (percent and numerical) from the show's previous episode.
LeLa - A18-49 difference between the show's lead-in and its lead-in for the previous episode.
Rank - The A18-49 rating's rank among the show's episodes so far this season.
y2y - Percent difference between A18-49 and the show's rating a year ago.
TLa - Percent difference between A18-49 and the network's rating in the timeslot one week ago.
Ty2y - Percent difference between A18-49 and the network's rating in the timeslot one year ago.
True - A metric that adjusts the A18-49 rating for overall viewing levels, competition and lead-in. PRELIMINARY CALCULATION. For finals, see SpotVault.
(R) - Repeat.
Much more detail on these numbers at the New Daily Spotted Ratings page.
More Spotted Ratings in the Index.
