Ratings: ‘Ellen’s Game of Games’ Rerun Leads NBC to Win on Encore-Filled Night

It wasn’t easy to find something new to watch the day after Christmas. Viewers tuning into primetime on Tuesday had a choice of Big 4 repeats, animated holiday specials on ABC and a telecast of the 40th Annual Kennedy Center Honors on CBS.

NBC won the Nielsen ratings battle in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic that evening, thanks to an encore showing of “Ellen’s Game of Games.” However CBS beat the Peacock in total viewership with its award show, though the broadcast’s audience and ratings both dropped roughly 30 percent from the previous year. Donald and Melania Trump passed on attending the show to avoid any “political distractions,” which marks the first time a sitting president has skipped the event in two decades.

NBC was first in ratings with a 0.9 rating/4 share in the key demo and second in total viewers with an average of 4.3 million, according to preliminary numbers. The primetime block included reruns of “Ellen’s Game of Games,” “Better Late Than Never,” and “Chicago Med.”

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CBS and ABC tied for second in ratings with a 0.7/3.

CBS was first in viewers with 6.5 million, showing a repeat of “NCIS” at 8, followed by the “40th Annual Kennedy Center Honors” telecast from 9 – 11, which posted a 0.7/3 and 6.2 million viewers.

ABC was third in viewers with 3 million. At 8, “Happy New Year, Charlie Brown” had a 0.9/4 and 4.1 million viewers. At 9, “Rudolph’s Shiny New Year” took a 0.7/3 and 3.1 million viewers. The specials were followed by a rerun of “Kevin (Probably) Saves the World.”

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Fox and Univision tied for fourth in ratings with a 0.5/2.

Fox came in fourth in viewers with 2 million, running repeats of “Lethal Weapon” and “The Mick.”

Univision was fifth with 1.5 million.

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Telemundo was sixth in ratings with a 0.3/2 and in viewers with 976,00 million.

The CW was seventh in ratings with a 0.2/1 and in viewers with 811,000, airing reruns of “The Flash” and “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.”