The NCAA Tournament made CBS a No. 1 seed Thursday night, and “Grey’s Anatomy” did the same for ABC. If the Disney broadcast channel’s “For the People” wasn’t so low-rated, ABC would have won Thursday primetime outright.
Due to the nature of live sports, the fast-national Nielsen numbers for CBS in this story should be considered subject to adjustment.
For now at least, CBS was first in ratings with a 1.0 rating/5 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and second in total viewers with an average of 3.9 million, according to preliminary numbers. Those numbers represent the averages of the Abilene Christian University vs. Kentucky and Seton Hall vs. Wofford games.
ABC was second in ratings with a 0.9/4 and first in viewers with 5.2 million. “Grey’s Anatomy” at 8 p.m. posted a 1.4/7 and 6.9 million viewers. At 9, “Station 19” had a 0.9/4 and 5.6 million viewers. “For the People” at 10 settled for a 0.5/3 and 3.2 million viewers.
NBC was third in ratings with a 0.7/3 and in viewers with 3.3 million. “Superstore” at 8 got a 0.9/4 and 3.9 million viewers. “A.P. Bio” at 8:30 had a 0.5/2 and 2.3 million viewers. “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” at 9 received a 0.6/2 and 2.2 million viewers. At 9:30, “Will & Grace” finished off the comedy block with a 0.7/3 and 3 million viewers. “Law & Order: SVU” at 10 closed actual primetime to a 0.8/4 and 4.3 million viewers.
Fox was fourth in ratings with a 0.6/3 and in viewers with 2.6 million. “Gotham” at 8 had a 0.6/3 and 2.2 million viewers. At 9, “The Orville” got a 0.6/3 and 2.9 million viewers.
Univision and Telemundo tied for fifth in ratings, both with a 0.4/2. Univision was fifth in total viewers with 1.4 million, Telemundo was seventh with 1.15 million.
The CW was seventh in ratings with a 0.3/2 and sixth in viewers with 1.24 million. “Supernatural” at 8 received a 0.4/2 and 1.5 million viewers. At 9, “Legacies” had a 0.3/1 and 1 million viewers.