Ratings: Caitlyn Jenner-Headlined ESPY Awards on ABC Double Last Year’s ESPN Telecast
Fox, CBS originals suffer losses to sports ceremony emceed by Joel McHale
Tony Maglio | July 16, 2015 @ 11:38 AM
Last Updated: July 16, 2015 @ 4:34 PM
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The ESPYS were in town last night — both literally in Los Angeles, and also for the first time ever on broadcast TV — and with Caitlyn Jenner headlining the ABC event, the other networks didn’t stand a chance.
Still, two nets tried putting up originals against the ESPN awards show, but all four combined episodes fell week-over-week in the key 18-49 demographic.
The 2015 ESPYS 2.2 demo rating doubled 2014’s 1.1, when the celebration of sport was still on Disney’s cable gem. Last night’s show also doubled the demo rating of its closest competition.
ABC was first in ratings with a 2.2 rating/8 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 7.7 million, according to preliminary numbers. The ESPYS at 8 was the only show on the network’s schedule. Ratings peaked between 10:30 p.m. and 10:45, when Caitlyn Jenner was making her Arthur Ashe Courage Award speech.
CBS, NBC and Fox tied for was second in ratings, each with a 1.1/4. CBS was second in total viewers with 5.1 million; NBC was third with 4.5 million, airing just reruns; Fox was fourth with 3.7 million.
For CBS, “Big Brother” at 8 received a 1.9/8 and 6 million viewers. Following a repeat, “Extant” at 10 had a 0.6/2 and 4.6 million viewers.
For Fox, “MasterChef” at 8 got a 1.4/6 and 4.7 million and 4.7 million viewers. “Bullseye” at 9 posted a 0.8/3 and 2.6 million viewers.
Univision was fifth in ratings with a 0.7/3 and in viewers with 1.7 million.
Telemundo was sixth in ratings with a 0.6/2 and in viewers with 1.5 million.
The CW was seventh in ratings with a 0.3/1 and in viewers with 995,000, airing just repeats.
19 Biggest Emmy Snubs and Surprises: 'Empire,' Tatiana Maslany, and 'The Big Bang Theory' (Photos)
Snub: "Empire," Fox Drama Series "Empire" skyrocketed to become TV's top-rated drama in its freshman year, but apparently that wasn't good enough for the Academy.
Fox
Surprise: Tatiana Maslany, "Orphan Black," Lead Actress - Drama Tatiana Maslany finally got an Emmy nod, and it only took her playing eight characters on one show to get it.
BBC America
Snub: "The Big Bang Theory," CBS Comedy Series "The Big Bang Theory" has become almost an automatic nomination, and while it's nice to see new blood, we didn't necessarily expect it.
CBS
Surprise: Anthony Anderson (pictured left), "Black-ish" Lead Actor - Comedy Fresh off hosting the "BET Awards," Anthony Anderson scored his first Primetime Emmy nomination for the breakout ABC comedy. To be fair, "Hang Time" was on Saturday mornings.
ABC
Snub: Julianna Margulies, "The Good Wife" Lead Actress - Drama It's 2013 all over again for last year's Best Actress winner Juliana Margulies. The Golden Globes didn't forget her -- what's up, TV Academy?
CBS
Snub: Jim Parsons, "The Big Bang Theory" Lead Actor - Comedy Rough one for "BBT" and its resident all-star Jim Parsons and four-time winner. His six-year nomination streak ends exactly right there.
CBS
Snub: Terrence Howard, "Empire" Lead Actor - Drama Voters showed the love for Taraji P. Henson's Cookie, but nothing for Lucious? Terrence Howard had a super-busy year -- he has two TV shows on Fox alone -- but he's still seeking his first Emmy recognition.
Fox
Surprise: Keegan-Michael Key (pictured left), "Key & Peele" Supporting Actor - Comedy The chrome-domed comic gained fame for playing Luther, President Obama's "anger translator," and now he has an Emmy nod to show for it.
Comedy Central
Snub: Maggie Smith, "Downton Abbey" Supporting Actress - Drama The veteran actress won the award for the first two seasons of the historical drama and earned noms for the last two -- but her Dowager Countess was abandoned after season 5.
Masterpiece
Snub: Mandy Patinkin (pictured right), "Homeland" Supporting Actor - Drama Though "Homeland" returned to the Best Drama race, Patinkin was passed over after getting nominations for the last two years.
Showtime
Surprise: Michael Kelly, "House of Cards" Supporting Actor - Drama The character actor scored his first Emmy nomination for playing political fixer Doug Stamper in Netflix's Washington, D.C.-set drama.
Netflix
Snub: "Survivor's Remorse," Starz Drama Series Starz had high hopes for the LeBron James-produced drama about a rookie NBA player -- but fell short of the rim.
Starz
Snub: "Jane The Virgin," The CW Comedy Series The rookie series earned recognition from the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice Television Awards, but the Emmys continue to have a bias against CW shows.
The CW
Snub: Judith Light, "Transparent" Supporting Actress - Comedy While "Transparent" stars Jeffrey Tambor and Gaby Hoffman both got noms, the Academy overlooked the former "Ugly Betty" nominee who plays the ex-wife of Tambor's late-in-life transgender woman.
Amazon Instant Video
Surprise: Niecy Nash, "Getting On" Supporting Actress - Comedy The actress is the lone nomination for the critically acclaimed but low-buzz HBO sitcom, which is set in a hospital's geriatric care unit.
HBO
Surprise: Gaby Hoffman, "Transparent" Supporting Actress - Comedy The actress scored two nominations, for her guest role on HBO's "Girls" as the sister of Adam Driver's character as well as her role as the dysfunctional youngest daughter of transgender professor Maura Pfefferman
Amazon Instant Video
Snub: Jesse Tyler Ferguson (pictured right) and Eric Stonestreet (left), "Modern Family" Supporting Actor - Comedy Though "Modern Family" scored its sixth straight nom for Best Comedy, several members of its much-honored cast got the could shoulder, including five-time nominee Jesse Tyler Ferguson and three-time nominee (and two-time winner) Eric Stonestreet.
ABC
Surprise: Emmy's new "Two Percent Rule" leads to eight nominations instead of usual six Supporting Actress - Comedy Under Academy rules, the number of nominees can grow if additional contenders are within 2 percent of the votes of the sixth (and final) nominee. So an already competitive category is bursting with familiar names (Julie Bowen, Mayim Bialik, Allison Janney) as well as newcomers (Niedy Nash, Gaby Hoffman, Kate McKinnon).
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The 67th Emmy Awards nominees are in: Here’s who got screwed in 2015, and the names you never expected to hear today
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