Primetime Ratings Wednesday: ABC, Fox, NBC Split Win on Inauguration Day
NBC has top score for ‘Celebrating America’ inauguration special
ABC, Fox and NBC tied for the Wednesday win in ratings, ABC and NBC with inauguration coverage and Fox with regular programming. All three got a 0.6 in viewers 18-49, per the Nielsen overnights, and a 4 share.
CBS was next at 0.4/2.
ABC had inauguration coverage at 0.7 from 8 to 9 p.m. and Tom Hanks-hosted musical special Celebrating America, with Bruce Springsteen, Foo Fighters and other acts, at 0.6 from 9 to 10. Comedy repeats followed.
Fox had The Masked Dancer and Name That Tune both down a tenth of a point at 0.6.
On NBC it was a 0.7 for inauguration coverage and a 0.8 for Celebrating America. A Chicago P.D. rerun followed.
CBS had special One Nation: Indivisible at 0.5 and Celebrating America at 0.4. A Magnum P.I. repeat followed.
Telemundo and Univision both got a 0.3/2. Both had news coverage of the historic day from 8 to 10 and then Telemundo aired Falsa Identidad and Univision had Dulce Ambicion, both posting a 0.3. Falsa was flat with last Wednesday and Dulce picked up a tenth.
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The CW scored a 0.1/1 with the season premieres of Riverdale at 0.2 and Nancy Drew at 0.1.
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.