The good news for the American Music Awards was that it was steady for ABC last night year-to-year in a climate where award show ratings have been dwindling. The bad news is that the 2018 showing of the telecast was one of its lowest ever so it pretty much matched its weakest outing.
The AMAs drew 6.73 million viewers for ABC, a slight 2 percent increase over last year’s show (which aired on a Tuesday night in October). The awards averaged a 1.7 rating among adults 18-49, off a tenth of a point from a year ago. Considering all the hype around the show (mostly due to Taylor Swift) the performance is a bit on the downside but it’s still a solid demo rating and the networks really need all they can get right now.
Fox’s animated comedies their typical NFL boost, as the network had the late-afternoon national game that bled into primetime. The Simpsons is at an 1.8 in adults 18-49 and 5.45 million viewers, even with its last post-NFL airing on November 10. Bless the Harts (1.0, +0.2, 2.70 million viewers) and Bob’s Burgers (0.9, +0.1, 2.29 million viewers) are both up compared to two weeks ago, and Family Guy is steady at a 0.9 demo rating and 2.29 million viewers.
On CBS, the network is in line with two weeks ago, the last time it didn’t have a national NFL lead-in for its primetime lineup. 60 Minutes drew a 0.7 in the 18-49 demo and 7.68 million viewers. God Friended Me is at 0.6 and 5.93 million viewers; NCIS: Los Angeles scored a 0.6 and 6.29 million, and Madam Secretary came in at 0.4 and 4.34 million viewers.
NBC’s Sunday Night Football drew just under 17 million viewers in the fast national ratings, a 22 percent improvement on last week’s showing.
The CW aired repeats for the night.
