“The Bachelorette” stole the audience’s heart en route to claiming Monday night’s best ratings and viewership.
The ABC broadcast, which is in its 19th (!) season, delivered major drama among its contestants last night as it scored a 0.7 rating in the highly-coveted 18-49 demographic. The episode was also the most-watched overall primetime offer with 3.3 million total viewers, though ABC was not the most-watched network overall.
That Monday night honor belongs to CBS, which narrowly edged out ABC for the most total average viewers during primetime with 2.85 million. Never underestimate the power of a CBS sitcom and procedural.
Here’s how the rest of primetime went down across the major broadcast networks:
ABC was first in the ratings with an average demo score of 0.6 and 2.83 million total average viewers, according to official live plus same-day Nielsen data. As mentioned, “The Bachelorette” is still going strong with a 0.7 rating and 3.3 million total viewers Monday night across its two-hour episode. At 10, “Claim to Fame” used its strong lead-in to score a 0.3 demo rating and 1.8 million total viewers.
CBS was tied for second in the ratings with an average 0.3 rating in the advertiser-friendly demo, but first in total average viewers with 2.85 million. Reruns of sitcoms and procedural dramas led the way with “The Neighborhood” (0.3, 3.1 million), “Bob Hearts Abishola” (0.3, 2.7 million), “NCIS” (0.3, 3.0 million) and “NCIS: Hawai” (0.2, 2.6 million) all performing well on the night. CBS was the only broadcast network to air four titles during primetime.
NBC also notched an average demo score of 0.3 while collecting 2.5 million total average viewers. From 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., “American Ninja Warrior” battled its way to a 0.4 demo rating and 2.7 million total viewers. At 10, “The Weakest Link” drew a 0.3 demo rating and 2.1 million total viewers.
There must have been something in the water Monday night, because Fox was the third broadcast network to draw an average demo rating of 0.3 while also collecting 1.9 million total average viewers. The network relied on musical reality competition series with “Don’t Forget the Lyrics” singing to the tune of a 0.3 demo score and 1.9 million total viewers at 8. At 9, “Beat Shazam” shuffled to a 0.3 rating and 1.8 million total viewers.
The CW was last in the ratings with a 0.05 average demo score and 363,000 total average viewers. At 8, “Roswell, New Mexico” landed a 0.1 demo score and 401,000 total viewers. At 9, “In the Dark” scared up a 0.0 rating in the 18-49 audience target and 324,000 total viewers.
Neither Fox nor The CW airs primetime programming at 10 p.m.
Among the Spanish-language networks, Telemundo was tied in the demo ratings with an average score of 0.4, but came out ahead in total average viewership with 1.4 million. “Casa de Famosos,” which ran from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., earned a 0.5 demo rating and 1.6 million total average viewers. “Infiel: Historia de Un Engaño” followed with a 0.2 rating and 938,000 total viewers.
Univision also scored a 0.4 average demo rating, but 1.1 million total average viewers. “Mexicana y El Guero” kicked off primetime at 8 with a 0.3 ratings score and 961,000 total viewers. From there, “La Herencia, Un Legado de Amor” notched a 0.4 demo rating and 1.2 million total viewers. “Mujer de Nadie” closed out primetime with a 0.4 demo rating score and 1.0 million total viewers.
