Although not picked until the 22nd choice, Johnny Manziel was the driving force behind the huge NFL Draft audience on Thursday.
ESPN presented the first round of the ‘2014 NFL Draft’ at 8P and it is in the ratings record books. According to Nielsen overnight data, the May 8th telecast on ESPN from New York’s Radio City Music Hall garnered 9.943 million viewers and a 6.8 household rating, the largest rating ever for an NFL Draft first round on the cable network (data available since 1998). This was an increase of 48% from the 4.6 rating of Draft coverage from April 25, 2013 (also a Thursday night) which then translated to 6.2 million viewers, according to Nielsen final nationals. The Draft’s peak rating of 8.0 occurred between 9:45 pm and 10 pm ET. In the ratings last year, the NFL Draft combined on ESPN & The NFL Network to pull a 3.6 rating/10 share in adults 18-49 and 7.72 million viewers overall (a 2.9 and 6.2 million on ESPN and 0.7 and 1.52 million on NFLN. Cleveland was the top-rated market tracked by Nielsen, with a 13.0 local rating.
CBS’ ‘The Big Bang Theory’ was the top program on television on Thursday.
CBS on Day #15 of the May Sweeps at 8P presented America’s #1 comedy, ‘The Big Bang Theory’ and it drew 14.42 million viewers and a 9.9/17. It finished as the top program of the evening but was not enough to carry the Tiffany Network to victory. At 830P, ‘The Millers’ had 8.96 million viewers and a 5.8/9. At 9P, ‘2 and a Half Men’ drew 8.35 million viewers and a 5.8/9. At 930P, ‘Bad Teacher’ drew 5.73 million viewers and a 3.9/6. At 10P, with a horrible lead in program, another tremendous episode of ‘Elementary’ as a bizarre murder turned into Holmes assisting his brother in an unexpected manner and drew 7.54 million viewers and a 5.2/9, while winning its time slot, it was 16% below the number on the comparable day last season, probably because of the excitement over on ESPN. However, it was a Must See TV ON DEMAND episode.
ABC at 8P, the Alphabet Network decided to put in a rerun of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ had 3.19 million viewers and a 2.3/4. At 9P, an original episode of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ drew 7.95 million viewers and a 6.0/9. At 10P, ‘Black Box’ drew a disappointing 4.64 million viewers and a 3.4/6. Another brilliant performance by its star, but perhaps the constant drifting into the disease is a bit too much for the audience to continue with. And, the program did not have the same ‘zing’ it has had in its first episodes leading up to this. Writers beware: there is a need to remember there is an audience out there.
FOX at 8P begin the evening with ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ which pulled in 4.30 million viewers and a 3.0/5. At 9P, ‘American Idol’ narrowed the field to the final three contestants and drew 7.18 million viewers and a 5.0/8, a 40% drop from the comparable day last year. At 930P, ‘Surviving Jack’ drew 4.00 million viewers and sadly it was cancelled by the suits at the Alphabet Network.
NBC at 8P, ‘Hollywood Game Night’ drew 3.18 million viewers and a 2.4/4. At 9P, ‘The American Comedy Awards’ drew 3.15 million viewers and a 2.3/4.
Univision at 8P had ‘Por Siempre Mi Amor’ and finished with a 1.2 A18-49 ratings. At 9P, ‘Lo Que La Vida Me Robo’ pulled in a big 1.5 A18-49 rating. At 10P, ‘Que Pobres Tan Ricos’ had a 1.0 A18-49 rating.
The CW at 8P, ‘The Vampire Diaries’ drew 1.50 million viewers and a 1.3/2. At 9P, ‘Reign’ drew 1.34 million viewers and a 1.1/2.
Telemundo at 8P presented ‘La impostoria’ and had a 0.3 A18-49 rating. At 9P, ‘En otra pile’ drew a 0.4 A18-49 Rating. At 10P, ‘Por siempre mi amor’ had a 0.4 A18-49P to finished Thursday.
Late Night
NBC’s ‘The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon’ drew a 2.5/6. CBS’ ‘Late Show with David Letterman’ had a 2.0/5 and ABC’s ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ finished with a similar 2.0/5. At 1235A, NBC’s ‘Seth Meyers’ drew a 1.3/4. CBS’ ‘Craig Ferguson’ pulled a 1.1/4. ABC’s ‘Nightline’ finished on top of this hour with a 1.2/4. At 135A, NBC’s ‘Carson Daly’ drew a 0.8/3.
For The Record
ESPN on Day #15 finished #1 among all of the networks with 9.943 million viewers and a 6.8 rating shocking the broadcast networks in the middle of the May Sweeps. CBS finished #2 on Thursday with 8.78 million viewers and a 5.9 rating and a 10 share of the available audience. ABC was third with 4.94 million viewers and a 3.9/6. FOX came in #4 with 4.90 million viewers and a 3.5/6. NBC was #5 with 3.19 million viewers and a 2.3/4. TBS finished #6 with 3.18 million viewers. Univision was #7 as it drew 2.92 million viewers and a 1.6/3. The NFL Network finished #8 and drew 2.430 million viewers and a 1.9. TBS was #9 with 1.779 million viewers. The CW #10 pulled in 1.54 million viewers and a 1.2/2. Telemundo finished #11 on the evening with 0.6/1.
Today In TV History
On this day in 1958, Richard Burton made his network television debut in the presentation of “Wuthering Heights” on CBS-TV.
Cable TV News
8 days before Lifetime launches the global simulcast of Sean Hanish’s film, ‘Return To Zero’ starring Minnie Driver, Paul Adelstein, Alfred Molina, Kathy Baker, Connie Nielsen, Andrea Anders, Sarah Jones and Colette Freedman. For a look behind the scenes of this important film, go to: http://bit.ly/1jfv4Xl. For the official trailer, go to: http://vimeo.com/94229672.
Top Ten Cable Programs on Thursday
The NFL Draft had ESPN #1 and NFL Network #8 together drawing more than 12 million viewers on Thursday.
#1 NFL Draft ESPN 9943 million viewers @ 8P
#2 NBA Playoff-CONF SEMIS ESPN2 3352 million viewers @ 939P
#3 Pawn Stars HIST 3080 million viewers @ 930P
#4 NBA Playoff-CONF SEMIS ESPN2 3008 million viewers @ 8P
#5 Pawn Stars HIST 2836 million viewers @ 9P
#6 The Big Bang Theory TBS 2541 million viewers @ 1030P
#7 The Big Bang Theory TBS 2517 million viewers @ 10P
#8 NFL Draft NFLN 2430 million viewers @ 8P
#9 The Big Bang Theory TBS 2163 million viewers @ 930P
#10 Law & Order: SVU USA 2138 million viewers @ 9P
Broadcast TV News
List of Broadcast Programming Cancelled
Back In The Game ABC Cancelled
Killer Women ABC Cancelled
Lucky 7 ABC Cancelled
Mind Games ABC Cancelled
Mixology ABC Cancelled
Once Upon A Time in Wonderland ABC Cancelled
The Neighbors ABC Cancelled
Suburgatory ABC Cancelled
Trophy Wife ABC Cancelled
How I Met Your Mother CBS Final Season Finished
We Are Men CBS Cancelled
Nikita CW Final Season Finished
Star-Crossed CW Cancelled
The Carrie Diaries CW Cancelled
The Tomorrow People CW Cancelled
Almost Human Fox Cancelled
American Dad Fox Moving to TBS
Dads Fox Cancelled
Enlisted Fox Cancelled
Raising Hope Fox Cancelled
Rake Fox Cancelled
Growing Up Fisher Cancelled
Revolution NBC Cancelled
Surviving Jack Fox Cancelled
Ironside NBC Cancelled
Sean Saves The World NBC Cancelled
The Michael J. Fox Show NBC Cancelled
Welcome To The Family NBC Cancelled
Community NBC Cancelled
Digital/Mobile
NFL digital media platforms had over 14 million visits, a 54% increase over 2013. NFL Mobile from Verizon had a year-over-year increase in visits of 168%. NFL digital media properties had nine million visitors on Thursday, 44% higher than the 2013 NFL Draft. NFL.com users averaged 29 minutes per visit on desktop, up 16% over 2013. In addition, more than 11 million people saw more than seven million total tweets about the Draft last night, up 347% from 2013 (according to Nielsen Social Guide).
New update on The Millennium Report can be found at http://bit.ly/1ljkQXc.
Welcome
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Across The Pond
BBC One & ‘MasterChef’ again #1 in the UK on Thursday.
BBC One again was #1 in the UK on Thursday. At 8P, ‘MasterChef’ remained on top of Thursday’s ratings. BBC One’s cooking series had 5.0 million viewers (22.9%), up 600,000 from the previous night. Later, at 9P, ‘Parking Mad’ brought in 3.8 million viewers (18.2%). After the news, ‘Question Time’ brought in 2.7 million viewers (24.2%).
ITV at 830P had a rerun of Paul O’Grady’s ‘For the Love of Dogs’ and it drew 2.7 million viewers (12.5%). At 9P, it was followed by ‘Wanted: A Family of My Own’ which held onto 2.2 million viewers (10.3%).
Channel 4 at 8P had ‘Posh Pawn’ and it brought in 1.5 million viewers (6.8%). At 9P, Heston’s ‘Great British Food’ held onto 1.1 million viewers (5.2%).
Channel 5 at 9P had ‘OAP Killer’ documentary and it brought in 973,000 viewers (4.7%). At 10P, it was followed by the latest CBS anchor on Tuesday evening in the U.S., ‘Person of Interest’ which drew 766,000 viewers (4.7%).
BBC Two presented at 7P the coverage of England Women’s win against Ukraine which drew 961,000 viewers (4.7%). At 930P, ‘Blurred Lines: New Battle of the Sexes’ kept 614,000 viewers (3.2%).
On BBC Three, at 8P had the second ‘Eurovision semi-final’ grabbed 660,000 viewers (3.1%). At 10P, ‘Jonah from Tonga’ premiered with 408,000 viewers (2.3%).
BBC Four at 9P presented the ‘First Georgians’ documentary series and it drew 972,000 viewers (4.7%).
E4 at 8P began with America’s #1 comedy, CBS’ ‘The Big Bang Theory’ and brought in 1.32 million viewers (6.0%). At 830P, CBS’ ‘How I Met Your Mother’ drew 795,000 viewers (3.6%). At 9P, FOX’s ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ pulled in 557,000 viewers (2.7%).
Down Under
Nine won the evening but ‘Call The Midwife’ on ABC1 was the #1 drama on Thursday in Australia.
Nine won for the third straight evening with a strong 26.4% share of the available audience and the #1 program in addition to being the #1 newscast in the nation on Thursday with ‘Nine News’ which drew 1,154,000 viewers. #3 was ‘Nine News 6:30’ with 1,077,000 viewers. #6 was ‘A current Affair’ which pulled in 909,000 viewers.
Seven finished second with a very competitive 25.9% share of the available audience on Thursday. Their top program finished #2 as ‘Seven News’ drew 1,102,000 viewers, some 52,000 behind it main rival, ‘Nine News’. #4 was ‘Seven News/Today Tonight’ with 1,019,000 viewers. And it also had #7, ‘Home and Away’ with 909,000 viewers.
Ten came in third for the second straight night with a strong 22.6% share of the available audience. It’s top program was at #5, ‘MasterChef Australia’ which pulled in 1,001,000 viewers. It was the only program on Ten that made the Top Ten.
ABC1 finished fourth on Thursday with a 19.0% share. It’s top program was #8, ‘ABC News’ with 848,000 viewers. It also had #9, with the top drama of the night, ‘Call The Midwife’ which finished with 802,000 viewers. Finally, it had the #10 program which was ‘7:30’ which drew 762,000 viewers.
SBS finished fifth with an above average share of 6.0%. It had not programming in the Top Ten for the evening.
As you can see, no matter where we live in the world today, people are…
Switching Channels!
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