Primetime Ratings: ‘American Idol' Gives ABC Big Boost

ABC easily won the Sunday ratings derby, with American Idol leading the network to a 1.1 score in viewers 18-49, per the Nielsen overnights, and a 4 share. That beat the twin 0.6/3s that CBS and NBC both did.

Fox and Univision got a 0.5/2.

Telemundo did a 0.3/1.

The CW got a 0.1/0.

ABC had an America’s Funniest Home Videos repeat, then American Idol went up 30% to 1.3 from 8 to 10 p.m. Shark Tank tallied a flat 0.8.

On CBS, 60 Minutes did a flat 0.9 and the God Friended Me finale a 0.6, half of what it did last time out, when it had a heavy March Madness lead-in. NCIS: Los Angeles lost 30% for a 0.7 and Madam Secretary fell 43% to 0.4. Those two also enjoyed a college basketball lead-in two weeks before.

On NBC, an Ellen’s Game of Games repeat led into two hours of World of Dance at a flat 0.7. Good Girls got a level 0.6.

Fox and The CW were in reruns. 

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.