Breaking: Americans are still much more into football than pop music. Sunday’s American Music Awards show tied 2016’s all-time low rating among adults 18-49, but the ABC show was able to grow its overall audience by 10 percent year over year.
It was nowhere near enough to tackle NBC’s primetime pigskin, however — not that anyone thought it would be.
Packing a particularly strong “Sunday Night Football” game, NBC finished first in ratings with a 5.1 rating/17 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 15.7 million, according to preliminary numbers.
The network’s “Football Night in America” and the Philadelphia Eagles destruction of the Dallas Cowboys combined for those gaudy Nielsen numbers.
ABC was second in ratings with a 2.0/7 and third in viewers with 7.7 million. “The Toy Box” season final at 7 p.m. managed a 0.6/2 and 3.5 million viewers. Across the rest of primetime, the “American Music Awards” averaged a 2.4/7 and 9 million viewers.
CBS was third in ratings with a 1.5/5 and second in viewers with 9 million. An NFL overrun at 7 scored a 4.4/16 and 17.3 million viewers. At 7:30, the first half-hour of “60 Minutes” put up a 2.4/8 and 12.7 million viewers.
The back 30 minutes dipped to a 1.6/5 and 10.3 million viewers. At 8:30, the first half-hour of “Wisdom of the Crowd” had 0.9/3 and 6.6 million viewers, while the second got a 0.7/2 and 6 million viewers. At the 10 p.m. hour, the conclusion of “NCIS: LA” and the start of “Madam Secretary” combined for a 0.7/2 and 6.4 million viewers
Fox was fourth in ratings with a 0.9/3 and in viewers with 2.1 million. After a rerun, “Bob’s Burgers” at 7:30 had a 1.1/4 and 2.4 million viewers. At 8, “The Simpsons” received a 1.1/4 and 2.7 million viewers. “Ghosted” at 8:30 got 0.8/3 and 2 million viewers. At 9, “Family Guy” rose from its lead-in to a 0.9/3 and 2.1 million viewers. “The Last Man on Earth” at 9:30 settled for a 0.7/2 and 1.6 million viewers.
Univision was fifth in ratings with a 0.6/2 and in viewers with 1.8 million.
Telemundo was sixth in ratings with a 0.3/1 and in viewers with 806,000.
The CW doesn’t nationally program Sunday nights.