CBS’ Tuesday Night Football Ratings Double Clare Crawley’s ‘The Bachelorette’ Debut

ABC can’t really love these ratings from Clare Crawley’s “Bachelorette” premiere, but who knew we’d have NFL football on a Tuesday to contend with? CBS aired the makeup game last night, leading broadcast in ratings. ABC ended up as the night’s runner up. “The Bachelorette” hit a new low for a series premiere in terms of total viewers and tied its all-time low in the key demo. Pulling up the rear, on The CW, “Tell Me a Story” Season 2 made its (unsuccessful) broadcast-television debut. Due to the nature of live sports, the below Nielsen numbers for CBS should be considered subject to heavy adjustment. This data set is not yet adjusted for time-zone differences.

CBS was first in ratings with a 2.1 rating/13 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 7.9 million, according to preliminary numbers. From 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET, the Buffalo Bills vs. Tennessee Titans game, which was a blowout in favor of Tennessee, posted a 2.7/16 and 9.9 million viewers. At 10, “The FBI Declassified” received a 0.9/6 and 3.9 million viewers.

ABC was second in ratings with a 1.1/6 and in viewers with 4.2 million. From 8-10, the “Bachelorette” premiere averaged a 1.3/7 and 4.8 million viewers. A special “Celebrity Family Feud” at 10 drew a 0.6/4 and 3.2 million viewers.

NBC was third in ratings with a 0.4/3 and in viewers with 3.2 million. “The Weakest Link” at 8 had a 0.6/3 and 4 million viewers. At 9, “Ellen’s Game of Games” managed a 0.4/2 and 2.8 million viewers. “Transplant” at 10 got a 0.3/2 and 2.8 million viewers.

Fox, Univision and Telemundo tied for fourth in ratings, each with a 0.3/2. Fox was fourth in total viewers with 1.3 million, Univision was fifth with 1.1 million and Telemundo was sixth with 1 million.

For Fox, “Cosmos” at 8 had a 0.3/2 and 1.2 million viewers. “Next” at 9 got a 0.3/2 and 1.5 million viewers.

The CW was seventh in ratings with a 0.1/1 and in viewers with 641,000. “Swamp Thing” at 8 had a 0.2/1 and 805,000 viewers. At 9, the Season 2 broadcast premiere of CBS All Access’s “Tell Me a Story” got a 0.1/0 and 477,000 viewers.