Primetime Ratings: ‘Ninja Warrior’ Return Paces NBC to Win

The return of American Ninja Warrior led NBC to an easy win among broadcasters Wednesday, the net scoring a 1.5 in adults 18-49, per the Nielsen overnights, and a 6 share. Next up was Fox at 1.0/4, then CBS at 0.9/3, ABC at 0.7/3 and The CW at 0.2/1.

The broadcast schedules featured several repeats.

Ninja Warrior did a 1.7, off 6% from last year’s premiere, while its 6.3 million total viewers was up. The new season of Night Shift scored a 1.1, down 8% from its second season closer.

Fox had MasterChef at 1.1, down 8% from last season’s debut, and Wayward Pines at a flat 0.9.

CBS was in repeats, including Undercover Boss and Criminal Minds.

ABC featured 500 Questions at 0.8, down 11% from last week, and repeated comedies 10-11 p.m.

On CW, iHeartRadio Summer Pool Party did a 0.2, down 33% from last year’s airing, before a repeat of Supernatural.

The broadcasters were competing with the third installment of the History/A&E/Lifetime special Roots, among other things.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone is content director at B+C and Multichannel News. He joined B+C in 2005 and has covered network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television, including writing the "Local News Close-Up" market profiles. He also hosted the podcasts "Busted Pilot" and "Series Business." His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The Boston Globe and New York magazine.