The Oscars dominated Sunday night, obviously — but we’re still a few hours away of knowing for sure where the awards show will end up historically.
The below fast national Nielsen numbers for ABC’s primetime should be considered quite unstable, due to the nature of the live event. The earlier metered market ratings are actually more accurate due to time zone adjustments — read those here. And around 3 p.m. ET/noon PT we’ll have an accurate total viewer count for the Oscars and its pre-shows. All indications point to the overall eyeball tally being down in the mid-high single digits, percentage-wise.
Way behind the Academy Awards, Fox’s animated reruns broke a broadcast tie in the key 18-49 demographic. With a new “60 Minutes,” CBS finished first in total viewers.
For now, ABC was first in ratings with a 7.4 rating/23 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 27.4 million, according to preliminary numbers. Again, those will rise — but we have the numbers, so we’re sharing them. ABC’s Sunday prime runs from 7 p.m. – 11 p.m., covering some red carpet time and most of the awards show, but not its final hour.
Fox was second in ratings with a 0.8/2, but fourth in viewers with 1.9 million, airing all repeats.
CBS and NBC tied for third in ratings, both with a 0.6/2. CBS was second in total viewers with 4.9 million, NBC was third with 3.1 million.
For CBS, “60 Minutes” at 7 had a 0.8/3 and 6.4 million viewers. Another hour at 8 got a 0.7/2 and 5.1 million viewers. Reruns followed.
For NBC, “Dateline NBC” at 7 received a 0.7/3 and 4.5 million viewers. Another hour at 8 put up a 0.9/3 and 5.1 million viewers. A movie followed.
Univision was fifth in ratings with a 0.5/2 and in viewers with 1.4 million.
Telemundo was sixth in ratings with a 0.4/1 and in viewers with 1.3 million.