The College Football Playoffs (CFP) National Championship Game aired last night on ESPN, drawing eyeballs (mostly males) away from broadcast television. The No. 3-ranked Georgia Bulldogs beat up on the top-seeded Alabama Crimson Tide, 33-18, on Monday. It was Georgia’s first national title since 1980.
At least CBS had the good sense to air all reruns on Monday. Find last week’s initial Nielsen numbers here for a week-to-week comparison.
We’re awaiting CFP National Championship Game ratings. Final figures for both broadcast and cable should be available later on Tuesday.
Fox and ABC tied for first in ratings, both with a 0.5 rating in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic. Fox was first in total viewers with an average of 4 million, according to preliminary numbers. ABC was third in total viewers with 2.6 million.
For Fox, “9-1-1: Lone Star” at 8 p.m. put up a 0.6 rating and 4.9 million total viewers. At 9, “The Cleaning Lady” had a 0.4 rating and 3.2 million total viewers.
Last week’s “9-1-1: Lone Star” Season 3 premiere initially had a 0.7 rating and 5.3 million total viewers before adjusting up to a 0.8 rating and 5.5 million viewers in final figures. The “Cleaning Lady” series premiere got a 0.5 rating and 3.6 million total viewers. The rating stayed the same in final Nielsen numbers, but the viewer tally ticked up to 3.7 million.
For ABC, “The Bachelor” from 8 to 10 averaged a 0.7 rating and 3.1 million total viewers. An encore of Steve Harvey’s new courtroom show aired at 10 o’clock.
CBS and NBC tied for third in ratings, both with a 0.3. CBS was second in total viewers with 3.3 million, NBC was fourth with 1.7 million total viewers.
For NBC, “Kenan” at 8 got a 0.3 rating and 1.9 million total viewers. A second episode at 8:30 had a 0.3 rating and 1.4 million total viewers. “That’s My Jam” at 9 received a 0.4 rating and 1.9 million total viewers. At 10, “Ordinary Joe” settled for a 0.2 rating and 1.4 million total viewers.
The CW was fifth in ratings with a 0.1 and in total viewers with 385,000, airing just repeats.
We do not have early Nielsen numbers for Spanish-language broadcast networks Univision and Telemundo.