Fox's "The X Factor" grew to help push the network to an overall win on Thursday night, while the season premieres of NBC's "The Office" and "Up All Night" saw considerable drops from last year's premieres, according to preliminary numbers.
Fox grabbed a decisive first place in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic with a 3.1 rating/9 share and in total viewers with 8.6 million. "The X Factor" at 8 p.m. grew 10 percent in the demo from last Thursday with a 3.4/11 and jumped 19 percent in total viewers for 9.9 million, making it the night's top-rated and most-watched program. "Glee" the following hour took a slight ratings hit from last week with a 2.9/8 and drew even with last week in total viewers with 7.4 million.
CBS, which ran repeats throughout the night, took second place in ratings with a 1.8/5 and in total viewers with 7.4 million.
NBC drew third place in ratings and total viewers with a 1.5/4 and 4 million. The network saw declines across the board, starting with "SNL Election Special #1," which dropped 69 percent from the comparable special four years ago for a 1.6/5 and drew 5.1 million total viewers. The season premiere of "Up All Night" at 8:30 was off 46 percent from last season's premiere for a 1.3/4 and drew 3.1 million total viewers. "The Office" season premiere at 9 dropped 46 percent from last season's premiere, which benefited from a finale cliffhanger over who would replace boss Michael Scott, as well as curiosity about how the show would fare without Steve Carell, who played him. Thursday the show had a 2.1/6 and grabbed 4.3 million total viewers. The "Parks and Recreation" season premiere at 9:30 saw a more modest decline, but was still off 19 percent from last year's opener, posting a 1.7/5 and taking 3.5 million total viewers. "Rock Center With Brian Williams" at 10 slipped 21 percent from last week for a 1.1/3 and had 4 million total viewers.
Univision drew fourth place in ratings and fifth in total viewers with a 1.4/4 and 3.3 million.
ABC came in fifth in ratings and came in barely behind NBC in total viewers with 3.98 million. Aside from the "Wipeout" finale at 8 — which was down 39 percent from last summer's finale with a 1.4/4 and drew 4.3 million total viewers — the network aired repeats.
