It’s not exactly confidential industry news that ABC’s “Secrets and Lies” doesn’t attract a large audience — but the Disney broadcaster surely hoped for better Nielsen numbers out of its two-hour season finale.
Instead, ABC settled for fourth place outright across last night’s primetime. It never helps when two of your competitors air at least some NFL football.
Either way, “Secrets and Lies” tied with or even lost to CBS reruns at 9 and 10 p.m. — and that’s not a good sign.
NBC was first in ratings with a 4.4 rating/13 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 13 million, according to preliminary numbers. The broadcaster’s “Football Night in America” and a blowout Seattle Seahawks victory over the struggling Carolina Panthers accounted for that 7-11 average.
Fox was second in ratings with a 2.7/8 and in viewers with 7.8 million. At 7, an NFL overrun scored a 6.0/20 and 19.4 million viewers. At 7:30, postgame show “The OT” earned a 4.1/13 and 12.3 million viewers. “The Simpsons” at 8 posted a 2.4/7 and 5.8 million viewers. At 8:30, “Son of Zorn” had a 1.3/4 and 3.2 million viewers. “Family Guy” at 9 got a 1.6/4 and 3.4 million viewers. At 9:30, “The Last Man on Earth” received a 1.1/3 and 2.5 million viewers.
CBS was third in ratings with a 1.0/3 and in viewers with 7.6 million. At 7, “60 Minutes” clocked in at a 1.5/5 and 11.7 million viewers. Reruns followed.
ABC was fourth in ratings with a 0.8/2 and in viewers with 3.8 million. “America’s Funniest Home Videos” at 7 had a 0.9/3 and 5.2 million viewers. At 8, “Once Upon a Time” got the same rating/share as its lead-in, but slipped to 3.2 million viewers. At 9, “Secrets & Lies” settled for a 0.7/2 and 3.4 million total viewers.
Univision was fifth in ratings with a 0.6/2 and in viewers with 1.5 million.
Telemundo was sixth in ratings with a 0.5/1 and in viewers with 1.3 million.