Blessed be NBC. The net’s “Jesus Christ Superstar Live” converted 9.607 million total viewers into believers last night, topping its Easter Sunday competition in the process.
The live TV musical earned a 1.7 rating among adults 18-49, which was also better than ABC’s “American Idol” and anything else that aired across broadcast’s primetime hours.
So yeah, NBC won the holy evening.
Read about the musical’s earlier-available overnight ratings here.
Last night’s total viewer count places “Jesus Christ Superstar” above Fox’s “A Christmas Story” and “The Passion,” and north of NBC’s “Peter Pan Live” and “Hairspray Live.”
“Jesus Christ Superstar Live” aired from 8 p.m. to 10:23 p.m. Elsewhere, a two-hour “Idol” from 8-10 put up a 1.6 rating and 7.4 million viewers, per fast national numbers. Also of note, CBS’ “60 Minutes” nabbed 8.1 million viewers. Those were the closest any other show came to the NBC musical’s numbers.
When all was said and done, NBC edged ABC across primetime averages by one-tenth of a Nielsen point in the key 18-49 demographic. It beat CBS by a couple hundred thousand viewers.
Happy Easter, Bob Greenblatt.