Honestly, the non-CBS broadcast nets could’ve gone black on Sunday and nobody would have noticed or cared. That’s the Super Bowl effect.
You probably didn’t need to click this story to know that CBS crushed its network competition on Sunday, but we’ll give you some preliminary details anyway. First, some things to note: Nielsen’s general fast national data is not naturally time zone adjusted, and will not reflect CBS’s time-adjusted fast national ratings. The so-called Tiffany Network has ordered adjusted fast national data from the ratings company, which will be available soon.
In other words, this story’s CBS data should be considered very preliminary and subject to change. Read about the earlier-released Super Bowl 50 overnight numbers here, which showed the big game as mostly steady with last year. It was down slightly from Super Bowl XLIX in rating, but up a point in share.
For now, CBS was first in ratings with a 32 rating in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 93.6 million.
NBC came in second with a 0.5 rating and 1.8 million viewers. The network aired a new episode of “Dateline” at 7, which attracted a 0.3 rating and 1.7 million viewers, followed by the movie “Pitch Perfect” at 8:30.
ABC came in third in total viewers with 1.79 million, but tied for fourth in the key demo with a 0.3 rating, airing only reruns.
Univision came in fourth in total viewers with 1.2 million and tied for third in the key demo with a 0.4 rating.
Fox finished fifth in total viewers with 896,000 and tied for third in the key demo with a 0.4 rating, airing only repeats.
Telemundo came in sixth in total viewers with 687,000 and tied for fourth in the key demo with a 0.3 rating.
The CW finished last with 672,000 and a 0.2 rating, airing only local programming.