Primetime Ratings: 25 Million Watch Grammys

CBS won the ratings race on the strength of the Grammy Awards, posting a 7.7 rating in adults 18-49, per Nielsen's time-adjusted fast affiliate ratings, with a 22 share. Fox was a distant runner-up at 1.8/5, according to the overnights, then ABC at 1.7/5, NBC at 0.9/3 and The CW at 0.2/1.

Just shy of 25 million--24.95 million, in fact--tuned in to the 58th annual Grammys, hosted by LL Cool J, with performances from Kendrick Lamar and Adele, among many other stars. The 7.7 average is off 9% from last year’s telecast, which was down 14% from the previous year.

Even with the decrease, the competition lost significant share against the live Grammys.

Fox had The X-Files at 2.1, down 16% from last week, and Lucifer at 1.6, down 6%.

ABC’s The Bachelor was down 8% to 2.2, and Castle slipped 18% to 0.9.

On NBC, Superstore was down 14% to a 1.2 and Telenovela was off 22% to 0.7. Two hours of The Biggest Loser rated a 0.9, down 18%.

The CW had Mortal Kombat X: Machinima’s Chasing the Cup at 0.3 and a repeat of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.

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.