Preliminary Ratings: Wednesday 09/24/14

Night three of the new season, and we are already starting to sound like a broken record. CBS and NBC split the leadership, but this time CBS takes the young demographic ratings, while NBC draws the most viewers.

CBS gave us the season premiere of SURVIVOR, followed by the season finale of BIG BROTHER. Both shows post strong numbers. SURVIVOR is almost even, year-to-year, with just a slight increase in the A18-49 ratings. BIG BROTHER is up in both categories, from the 2013 finale.

NBC, which does always does well with its crime drama premieres, posted string viewership numbers over the whole night. THE MYSTERIES OF LAURA held onto al most 100% of it's series premiere audience, last week, but fell 25% in the demo ratings. That is still a lot better than most were expecting. LAW & ORDER: SVU commanded over 10 million viewers and a 2.1 demo rating. That is a step up in viewership, but a major loss of 22% in the A18-49 demographic. CHICAGO PD had the most viewers in it's time slot, and was second in the demo numbers. Season two premiere is near the series premiere numbers, from this past January.

The ABC comedies did well on the night, especially the series premiere of BLACK-ISH. The new sitcom held 99% of the MODERN FAMILY lead in viewership, and was just 11% off in the A18-49 retention.  If the final numbers hold, BLACK-ISH could be the first true new hit of the TV season.

Year to Year, THE MIDDLE and MODERN FAMILY were down, form their 2013 premieres. THE MIDDLE dropped 1.5 million viewers and 12% in the demo, while MODERN FAMILY is also off by 12% in the A18-49 ratings, but loss less than 800,000 viewers. One encouraging stat for ABC's comedies was growth in the A18-49 ratings from THE MIDDLE to THE GOLDBERGS.

FOX is irrelevant in the Wednesday night mix. HELL'S KITCHEN cant compete with the big boys and RED BAND SOCIETY is not catching on.

The CW did relatively well with PENN & TELLER. the original episode, at 8 p.m., held its numbers and the encore at 9 p.m. did much better than repeats of THE 100 had been doing over the summer.

Preliminary L+SD Network Averages:

ABC - 7.9 million viewers, 2.4 rating in A18-49

CBS - 8.3 million viewers, 2.6 rating in A18-49

CW - 1.5 million viewers, 0.5 rating in A18-49

FOX - 3.5 million viewers, 1.2 rating in A18-49

NBC - 9.5 million viewers, 1.9 rating in A18-49

Time	Net	Program	Viewers*	A18-49	+/-
8:00	ABC	The Middle	7.40	2.1
8:30	ABC	The Goldbergs	7.00	2.3	-5%
9:00	ABC	Modern Family	10.90	3.7	56%
9:30	ABC	Black-ish	10.80	3.3	-1%
10:00	ABC	Nashville	5.60	1.5	-48%
8:00	CBS	Survivor	9.70	2.7
9:30	CBS	Big Brother	7.00	2.6	-28%
8:00	CW	Penn & Teller: Fool Us	1.50	0.5
9:00	CW	Penn & Teller: Fool Us [R]	1.40	0.4	-7%
8:00	FOX	Hell's Kitchen	3.70	1.3
9:00	FOX	Red Band Society	3.40	1.0	-8%
8:00	NBC	The Mysteries of Laura	9.90	1.5
9:00	NBC	Law & Order: SVU	10.10	2.1	2%
10:00	NBC	Chicago PD	8.40	1.9	-17%

* - in millions