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.”
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.”
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.”
Live TV Musicals Ranked by Ratings, From 'Annie Live!' to 'Grease' (Photos)
NBC's "Annie Live!" bowed Thursday as the first new live musical production to air on broadcast TV since ABC's "The Little Mermaid Live!" in November 2019.
It also marked NBC's return to the genre, which it hasn't ventured into since "Jesus Christ Superstar Live!" on Easter Sunday of 2018, and the first of the Big 4 networks' live-TV musicals to be made during the COVID-19 era.
So naturally, all eyes were on how the Taraji P. Henson- and Harry Connick Jr.-led "Annie Live!" performed in TV ratings and viewership, as that's going to be used as an indicator of what "Tomorrow" looks like for the genre.
On the plus side, "Annie Live!" averaged 5.155 million total viewers, which was better than Fox's "Rent" and "A Christmas Story." Unfortunately, "Annie" ranks dead last in the key demo of adults 18-49, though that may be more of an indicator on how young adults view broadcast television in late 2021 vs. late 2019.
"Annie Live!" faced a lot of competition last night: Fox aired "Thursday Night Football," ABC had a highly anticipated Alec Baldwin interview in the first hour of primetime, and CBS did well with its first few sitcoms.
Scroll through our gallery to see how each of broadcast TV's modern-day, live musical productions rank by Nielsen numbers. Lowest-rated is first, highest-rated is last.
ABC
Rank: 11
Musical: "Annie Live!"
Date: December 2, 2021
Network: NBC
18-49 rating: 0.9
Total viewers: 5.155 million
NBC
Rank: 10
Musical: "Rent"
Date: January 27, 2019
Network: Fox
18-49 rating: 1.4
Total viewers: 3.415 million
Fox
Rank: 9
Musical: "A Christmas Story: Live"
Date: Dec. 17, 2017
Network: Fox
18-49 rating: 1.5
Total viewers: 4.481 million
Fox
Rank: 8
Musical: "The Passion"
Date: March 20, 2016
Network: Fox
18-49 rating: 1.6
Total viewers: 6.648 million
Fox
Rank: 7
Musical: "Jesus Christ Superstar Live!"
Date: April 1, 2018
Network: NBC
18-49 rating: 1.7
Total viewers: 9.607 million
NBC
Rank: 6
Musical: "Hairspray Live!"
Date: Dec. 7, 2016
Network: NBC
18-49 rating: 2.3
Total viewers: 9.045 million
NBC
Rank: 5
Musical: "Peter Pan Live!"
Date: Dec. 4, 2014
Network: NBC
18-49 rating: 2.4
Total viewers: 9.211 million
NBC
Rank: 4
Musical: "The Little Mermaid Live!"
Date: Nov. 5, 2019
Network: ABC
18-49 rating: 2.6
Total viewers: 8.978 million
ABC
Rank: 3
Musical: "The Wiz Live!"
Date: Dec. 3, 2015
Network: NBC
18-49 rating: 3.4
Total viewers: 11.498 million
NBC
Rank: 2
Musical: "Grease: Live"
Date: Jan. 1, 2016
Network: Fox
18-49 rating: 4.3
Total viewers: 12.206 million
Fox
Rank: 1
Musical: "Sound of Music Live!"
Date: Dec. 5, 2013
Network: NBC
18-49 rating: 4.6
Total viewers: 18.624 million
NBC
1 of 12
Thursday show marked the long-awaited return of broadcast TV’s modern-day, live musical productions
NBC's "Annie Live!" bowed Thursday as the first new live musical production to air on broadcast TV since ABC's "The Little Mermaid Live!" in November 2019.
It also marked NBC's return to the genre, which it hasn't ventured into since "Jesus Christ Superstar Live!" on Easter Sunday of 2018, and the first of the Big 4 networks' live-TV musicals to be made during the COVID-19 era.
So naturally, all eyes were on how the Taraji P. Henson- and Harry Connick Jr.-led "Annie Live!" performed in TV ratings and viewership, as that's going to be used as an indicator of what "Tomorrow" looks like for the genre.
On the plus side, "Annie Live!" averaged 5.155 million total viewers, which was better than Fox's "Rent" and "A Christmas Story." Unfortunately, "Annie" ranks dead last in the key demo of adults 18-49, though that may be more of an indicator on how young adults view broadcast television in late 2021 vs. late 2019.
"Annie Live!" faced a lot of competition last night: Fox aired "Thursday Night Football," ABC had a highly anticipated Alec Baldwin interview in the first hour of primetime, and CBS did well with its first few sitcoms.
Scroll through our gallery to see how each of broadcast TV's modern-day, live musical productions rank by Nielsen numbers. Lowest-rated is first, highest-rated is last.
ABC
NBC
