Simply put, the Season 5 premiere for ABC’s “Great American Baking Show” was…not great. As a result of the low numbers whipped up by the return of the competition’s “Holiday Edition,” ABC settled for last place in primetime ratings among the Big 4 broadcast networks.
Despite a weak “Thursday Night Football” game, Fox easily finished first. CBS was second, and NBC managed to make it into third.
Fox was first in ratings with a 2.5 rating/13 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 9 million, according to preliminary numbers. Those were the Nielsen averages from the New York Jets-Baltimore Ravens game.
CBS was second in ratings with a 0.7/3 and in viewers with 5.4 million. At 8 p.m., “Young Sheldon” scored a 1.0/5 and 8.2 million viewers. “The Unicorn” at 8:30 had a 0.7/4 and 5.6 million viewers. At 9, “Mom” got a 0.7/4 and 6.2 million viewers. “Carol’s Second Act” at 9:30 received a 0.6/3 and 5 million viewers. At 10, “Evil” ended the night with a 0.5/3 and 3.6 million viewers.
NBC was third in ratings with a 0.6/3 and in viewers with 3.3 million. At 8, the final night of “Ellen’s Greatest Night of Giveaways” earned a 1.0/5 and 5.9 million viewers. At 9, “Superstore” had a 0.6/3 and 2.8 million viewers. At 9:30, “Perfect Harmony” settled for a 0.4/2 and 1.8 million viewers. It was followed by a rebroadcast of John Legend and Chrissy Teigen’s 2018 holiday special.
ABC was fourth in ratings with a 0.5/3 and in viewers with 2.9 million. Following an hour of back-to-back rebroadcasts of animated holiday specials, “The Great American Baking Show: Holiday Edition” premiered at 9 to a 0.5/3 and 2.9 million viewers.
Univision was fifth in ratings with a 0.4/2 and in viewers with 1.3 million.
The CW and Telemundo tied for sixth in ratings, both with a 0.3/1. The CW was sixth in viewers with 1 million. Telemundo was seventh in viewers with 855,000.
For The CW, “Supernatural” at 8 managed a 0.3/1 and 1.1 million viewers. At 9, “Legacies” had a 0.3/1 and 929,000 viewers.