Final Broadcast Ratings: May 26, 2014

Monday night, featured more than 7 hours of original programming by the five networks. That is more than I would have expected for the first Monday's after the sweeps month, on the Memorial Day holiday. There is quite a bit to talk about, so let's get going.

FOX, lead the night in the A18-49 ratings with a push by season premiere of MASTERCHEF. The veteran cooking competition series drew just 4.3 million viewers, but was just edged out by THE BACHELORETTE for the top rating in the A18-49 demographic. Comparing kast years numbers, MASTERCHEF is down 33% in the demo and 1.2 million viewers from last year's season opener. But that opener was on a Wednesday night, not a holiday Monday night.

Following MASTERCHEF was week three of 24. It lost 12% in the demo ratings, from last week.

Over on NBC, the season premiere of AMERICAN NINJA WARRIOR aired from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. The competition series generated a 1.6 rating. Compared to last year's season premiere, it was down 7% and 12% in viewership and demo ratings, respectively.

Week two of THE BACHELORETTE did decent Memorial day numbers, with 6 million viewers and a 1.6 rating in Adults 18-49. But, that is down nearly 1.2 million viewers and 16% in the demo numbers, from last week's premiere.

On a side nit, has anyone elsed noticed how huge the gains ABC gets from Preliminary ratings to Finals, the last few weeks? It is not uncommon for an ABC program to gain 300,000 viewers and two tenths in the demo, just as THE BACHELORETTE did. No other network is gettin these huge adjustments.

CBS was off it's game on Monday night, as it had the most repeat programs of the Big 4 networks, with 90 minutes of encores. the short term, new home of 48 HOURS did numbers very comparable to what it pulls on Saturday nights. however, that is not good for CBS, hoping that fresh content on a week night would help push up the ratings.

Burn-off FRIENDS WITH BETTER LIVES did nicely gaining 13% in viewers and 40% in the demo, from it's 2 BROKE GIRLS lead in. FWBL is not hit comedy, but it may not be a bad summer series. But CBS has other ideas and cancelled the series earlier this week.
 

Preliminary Network Averages:

ABC - 5.5 million viewers, 1.4 rating in A18-49

CBS - 5.0 million viewers, 1.0 rating in A18-49

CW - 1.3 million viewers, 0.3 rating in A18-49

FOX - 5.0 million viewers, 1.5 rating in A18-49

NBC - 4.1 million viewers, 1.3 rating in A18-49

Time	Net	Program	Viewers*	A18-49	+/-
8:00	ABC	The Bachelorette	6.03	1.6
10:00	ABC	Castle [R]	4.51	0.9	-23%
8:00	CBS	2 Broke Girls [R]	4.69	1.0
8:30	CBS	Friends With Better Lives	5.31	1.4	13%
9:00	CBS	Mike & Molly [R]	5.02	1.0	-6%
9:30	CBS	Mom [R]	4.92	0.9	-4%
10:00	CBS	48 Hours	5.05	0.9	3%
8:00	CW	Movie: Memorial Day	1.31	0.3
8:00	FOX	Masterchef	4.26	1.5
9:00	FOX	24: Live Another Day	5.71	1.5	37%
8:00	NBC	American Ninja Warrior (Clips)	2.91	0.8
9:00	NBC	American Ninja Warrior	4.65	1.6	57%

* - in millions