The Steelers-Ravens game was a Thanksgiving blessing for NBC, while “X Factor” and “Glee” hit all-time lows for Fox and Lady Gaga and the Muppets proved a mismatch with ABC viewers Thursday, according to preliminary ratings.
The “Glee” and “X Factor” won’t count as the shows’ official Nielsen lows because the episodes were considered holiday specials.
NBC easily won the holiday night, averaging a 5.6 rating/18 share in the key 18-49 demographic and 17.6 million total viewers on the strength of a Thursday edition of “Sunday Night Football” and its lead-in, “Football Night in America.”
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CBS was second with a 2.1/7 and 7.4 million, airing only repeats.
ABC was third with a 1.2/4 and 4.2 million. At 8, “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” had a 1.6/5, up 45 percent from last year, and had 5.3 million total viewers. After a “Modern Family” rerun, “Lady Gaga and the Muppets’ Holiday Spectacular” from 9:30 to 11 had a .9/3, down 25 percent from a Michael Jackson special last year. Gaga and the Muppets had roughly 3.6 million total viewers.
Fox was fourth with a .9/3 and 3.3 million total viewers. At 8, “X Factor” hit a record low, excluding clip shows,with a 1.0/3 and 3.8 million viewers. At 9, a puppet-filled “Glee” hit bottom with a .9/3, and had 3.9 million total viewers.
The CW was fifth with a .2/1 and 1.1 million with the holiday movie “You Again.”
and for “Glee,” the 0.9 is indeed a record low for an original.