“America’s Got Talent” named a champion last night, when NBC was the night’s big winner. Also on Wednesday, “MasterChef” crowned its top cook, placing Fox second in ratings (but third in terms of total viewers).
Neither of those shows topped primetime in ratings among adults 18-49, however. That podium belonged to 8 o’clock CBS competition series “Big Brother” — though “America’s Got Talent” was easily the most-watched primetime show overall. Unfortunately for CBS, everything else the network aired in primetime was pretty weak.
Magician Dustin Tavella won Season 16 of “America’s Got Talent.” Kelsey Murphy won Season 11 of “MasterChef.”
NBC was first in ratings with a 0.6 rating in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 4.9 million, according to preliminary numbers. “Family Game Fight!” at 8 had a 0.4 rating and 2.3 million total viewers. The two-hour “America’s Got Talent” finale followed with a 0.7 rating and 6.1 million total viewers.
Fox was second in ratings with a 0.5 and third in total viewers with 2.4 million. Those numbers belonged to the two-hour “MasterChef” season finale.
(Like The CW, Fox only nationally programs shows between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. The other broadcast networks — CBS, NBC and ABC — all schedule the 10 o’clock hour as well.)
ABC and CBS tied for third in ratings, both with a 0.4. ABC was third in total viewers with 2.7 million, CBS was fourth with 2.2 million.
For ABC, “Press Your Luck” at 8 had a 0.5 rating and 3.6 million total viewers. At 9, “The $100,000 Pyramid” got a 0.4 rating and 2.9 million total viewers. A “20/20” special on poet Amanda Gorman at 10 managed a 0.2 rating and 1.6 million total viewers.
For CBS, “Big Brother” at 8 earned a 0.8 rating and 3.9 million total viewers. At 9, a first hour of “House Calls With Dr. Phil” had a 0.2 rating and 1.4 million viewers. A second episode starting at 10 settled for a 0.1 rating and 1.3 million total viewers.
The CW was fifth in ratings with a 0.1 and in total viewers with 457,000. “Riverdale” at 8 had a 0.1 rating and 480,000 total viewers. Reruns followed.
We do not have early Nielsen numbers for Spanish-language networks Univision and Telemundo.
Find last Wednesday’s ratings here.