TV Ratings: Dem Debate On NBC, MSNBC Tops The Week

Two long-running series — CBS drama “Criminal Minds” and ABC’s “Fresh Off the Boat” — ended their runs last week with modest bumps in the ratings.

The investigators on “Criminal Minds” concluded their 15th and last season by chasing a psychopath who liked to cut off the faces of his victims. The last episode reached 5.4 million viewers, up 12% from its season average, the Associated Press reports citing Nielsen company data.

The Huang family finished :the sixth season of “Fresh Off the Boat″ with a sweetly nostalgic episode that included a peek at the future for the characters. Its last episode was seen by 2.4 million people, or 6% more than the season average, Nielsen said.

Television’s week was dominated by the Democratic presidential debate, which was seen by 19.8 million people on either NBC or MSNBC. It’s the most-watched Democratic nomination debate ever.

CBS won the week with an average of 6.1 million viewers in prime time. NBC had 4.4 million viewers, ABC had 4.2 million, Fox had 3 million, Univision had 1.7 million, ION Television had 1.4 million, Telemundo had 1 million and the CW had 650,000.

⏩ Broadcast Prime-Time Top 20 (Total Viewers):

1. Democratic Presidential Debate, NBC, 12.11 million.
2. “NCIS,” CBS, 11.92 million.
3. “Daytona 500” rainout coverage, Fox, 10.08 million.
4. “FBI,” CBS, 8.95 million.
5. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 9.12 million.
6. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 8.95 million.
7. Democratic Debate, MSNBC, 7.67 million.
8. “America’s Got Talent Champions,” NBC, 7.61 million.
9. “American Idol,” ABC, 7.5 million.
10. “Survivor,” CBS, 7.18 million.

11. “The Masked Singer,” Fox, 7.13 million.
12. “Hawaii Five-0,” CBS, 6.66 million.
13. “The Bachelor,” ABC, 6.65 million.
14. “This is Us,” NBC, 6.48 million.
15. “The Neighborhood,” CBS, 6.46 million.
16. “FBI: Most Wanted,” CBS, 6.3 million.
17. “Mom,” CBS, 6.283 million.
18. “Station 19,” ABC, 6.277 million.
19. “Bull,” CBS, 6.23 million.
20. “NCIS: Los Angeles,” CBS, 6.2 million

ABC’s “World News Tonight” won the evening news ratings race, averaging 9 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 7.8 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.8 million.

Season to date, “World News Tonight” (8.863 million) ranks No. 1 in Total Viewers at this point of the season for the 3rd consecutive year, based on Most Current Data. In fact, “World News Tonight” is nearly doubling its lead over “NBC Nightly News” (7.988 million) from last season (+98% - 875,000 vs. 442,000) to its largest season lead in 24 years—since the 1995-1996 season. “World News Tonight” is beating “CBS Evening News” (5.699 million) by 3.164 million, posting its biggest Total Viewer season advantage in at least 28 years (since at least the start of Nielsen electronic database in the 1991-1992 season).

Fox News Channel was the most popular cable network, averaging 3.01 million viewers in prime time. MSNBC had 2.17 million, HGTV had 1.18 million, TLC had 1.17 million and Discovery had 1.12 million.

Fox News is going to average a record-setting 3.5 million total prime time viewers for the month of Feb. 2020. Compared to the network’s Feb. 2019 delivery, that’s +35% growth. Additionally, FNC averaged nearly 2 million viewers in total day. While not a network record, that delivery is +34% from what the network averaged in the daypart the prior February, TV Newser reports.
.
The network also posted growth in the key A25-54 demo. In prime time, FNC was +27% in the measurement. In total day, +31% in the measurement vs. Feb. 2019.

The NBCUniversal politics-focused outlet MSNBC ranked No. 2 among all basic cable networks for the month of February, the 36th consecutive month it has earned that status. The network has also averaged 1 million total viewers each of those months.

MSNBC defeated rival CNN in multiple dayparts and measurements this month, including Total Viewers during prime time and Adults 25-54 during prime time. However, MSNBC finished behind CNN in the key demo on weekends and in total day, 6 a.m.-6 a.m.

A month filled with live town halls, a State of the Union address, and major political event coverage, including the Iowa caucus, New Hampshire primary and Nevada caucus, lifted CNN to a No. 5 ranking in prime time for the month of February.