A Spanish-language telenovela, broadcast on Univision on Tuesday, beat its primetime English-language competition in the U.S. — including a "Saturday Night Live" Christmas special — to win the top slot in the ratings among 18-to-49-year-old viewers, Nielsen said.
The hourlong "Soy Tu Duena" ("I'm Your Owner") earned a 2.5 rating in the key demo, outperforming NBC's "SNL Presents: A Very Gilly Christmas," which earned a 2.3. "SNL," however, had more total viewers — 6 million — than the Univision show.
Both shows gained a 7 share in the ratings.
CBS' "NCIS" (12.3 million) and "NCIS: Los Angeles" (11.3 million) drew the biggest total viewers among the top 10 rated shows on Tuesday, according to Nielsen estimates.
That a Spanish-language show would win the American TV ratings race for a night should not come as a huge surprise.
During the first week of September, Univision was the most popular network among 18-49 viewers — the first time a Spanish-language station had beaten English stations in the United States.
"With a growing Latino population and that youthful audience," David Bauder noted in the Associated Press at the time, "last week's milestone could become commonplace."
In July, Univision beat all other broadcast networks for the month among viewers aged 18 to 34, Nielsen noted. (Given the population trends, Univision head Cesar Conde told Variety this week his five-year goal is to become the top-rated U.S. network among 18-49-year-olds.)
"Soy Tu Duena" began airing in the U.S. in June, and is shown most weeknights at 9 p.m., which also explains its consistent popularity.
Since its debut, "Soy Tu Tuena" has averaged 5.4 million total viewers, according to Nielsen.
And the show features three of the telenovela world's biggest stars: Lucero ("Valentina Villalba") as a woman who was left at the altar; Jose Miguel ("Colunga") as her new love interest; and Gabriela Spanic, whose character is also in love with Jose — filling out the classic soapy love triangle.
And let's not forget that the "SNL" Christmas special was a rerun.
