NBC isn’t looking as forward to 2017 as the rest of you guys — that’s because 2016 has been a damn good year over there.
The peacock-colored broadcast net will close this calendar year out at No. 1 in the advertiser-sought 18-49 demographic — and that’s with or without the Olympics and NFL football, by the way. That’s because Bob Greenblatt-Claus has reindeer stuff their stockings with “The Voice,” “America’s Got Talent,” “Little Big Shots,” “This Is Us,” “American Ninja Warrior” and a whole slew of “Chicago” shows, in addition to live musicals and Dolly Parton TV flicks.
Here are the Big 4 rankings when just isolating entertainment programs:
1. NBC: 1.7 (-6% year over year)
2. ABC: 1.6 (-11%)
3. CBS: 1.5 (-12%)
4. Fox: 1.4 (-12%)
As readers can see above, each network is down year over year in the main demo.
Now, everyone gets a bump with sports, but the non-Olympics networks are all down from calendar 2015:
1. NBC: 2.2 (+5%)
2. CBS: 1.8 (-5%)
3. ABC: 1.7 (-11%)
4. Fox: 1.6 (-6%)
Either way, CBS still tops 2016 in terms of total viewers. Despite having had Super Bowl 50, the Leslie Moonves-led network’s lead in overall audience members widened significantly when scratching sports.