Final Broadcast Ratings: January 29, 2015

The first night of the February sweeps was split between CBS and ABC. CBS grabbed the most viewers, including the three of the four most watched programs. ABC was tops in the A18-49 ratings, as all three dramas either equaled or bested their Winter finales, two months earlier.

ABC returned its regular Thursday line up to good numbers. GREY'S ANATOMY and SCANDAL produced numbers better than the Winter Finales. SCANDAL had an easy time winning its time slot, in both viewers and demo. Closing out the night, for ABC, was the once hot drama HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER. It did have an easy time winning the hour, but it is not the ratings draw it started out to be.

CBS didn't miss a beat with its shows. The demo ratings were near equal to those on January 8, when all five shows were in originals. Only ELEMENTARY showed a significant losses, in the demo.

FOX felt the brunt of the return of the ABC dramas. AMERICAN IDOL was down 1.3 million viewers and off in the demo by 21 percent, from last week's airing. The new series BACKSTROM did worse, going up against SCANDAL, losing 2.7 million viewers and 26% in the demo. Things will only get worse next week, when NBC brings in THE BLACKLIST to Thursday nights.

NBC said good-bye to its mediocre fall line up, finishing in 4th place on the night. Neither THE BIGGEST LOSER or PARENTHOOD could draw an audience larger than 5.5 million viewers. The only bright spot for NBC was PARENTHOOD not placing last at 10 p.m.

Final L+SD Network Averages:

ABC - 9.5 million viewers, 3.2 rating in A18-49

CBS - 10.2 million viewers, 2.3 rating in A18-49

CW - 1.2 million viewers, 0.6 rating in A18-49

FOX - 7.3 million viewers, 1.8 rating in A18-49

NBC - 5.4 million viewers, 1.5 rating in A18-49

Time	Net	Program	P2+*	A18-49	L+3^	L+7^
8:00	ABC	Grey's Anatomy	8.71	2.8	13.50(4.1)	14.60(4.4)
9:00	ABC	Scandal	10.48	3.6	15.10(5.1)	15.90(5.4)
10:00	ABC	HTGAWM	9.18	3.1	14.90(4.9)	16.00(5.2)
8:00	CBS	The Big Bang Theory	17.25	4.5
8:30	CBS	Mom	11.78	2.8
9:00	CBS	Two And A Half Men	9.71	2.3
9:30	CBS	The McCarthys	7.11	1.6
10:00	CBS	Elementary	7.69	1.3
8:00	CW	The Vampire Diaries	1.47	0.7
9:00	CW	Reign	1.02	0.4
8:00	FOX	American Idol	9.37	2.2	(2.6)	(2.7)
9:00	FOX	Backstrom	5.32	1.4	(1.9)	(2.0)
8:00	NBC	The Biggest Loser (SF)	5.37	1.4	6.10(1.7)	6.30(1.8)
10:00	NBC	Parenthood (SF)	5.46	1.7	7.70 (2.7)	8.20(2.9)

* - total viewers, in millions
^ - projected Live+3 and Live+7:
millions of viewers(A18-49 demo rating)