Preliminary Ratings: Monday 09/14/15

We are a week away from the official start of the 2015-16 TV season, so the networks are closing out summer shows mixed in with the occasional season premiere. On Monday night, we had two finales and one premiere.

DANCING WITH THE STARS kicked off its new season as the most watched show of the night, grabbing 13.6 million viewers, from 8 to 10 p.m. The competition series was #1 in both the A18-49 and A25-54 demos, and just one tenth behind AMERICAN NINJA WARRIOR for the top spot of the A18-34 demo. Year-to-year, DWTS right on par with the 2014 fall premiere ratings.

NBC closed a successful 2015 summer season of AMERICAN NINJA WARRIOR. The three hour finale collected 6.1 million viewers and was the top show of the night in the A18-34 demographic. With no Bear Grylls to drag the average down, NBC won the night in the A18-34 and the A18-49 demo categories. Year-to-year, ANW was up about 800k in total viewers and 20% in the A18-49 demo.

FOX ended a painful season, in the ratings, to SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE. The dancing finale was 4th in the ratings, during most of the two hours. Compared to last year's finale, SYTYCD lost 1.7 million viewers and dropped 39% in the A18-49 demo ratings. FOX needs to do what is should have a few seasons back, and cancel SYTYCD.

The CW did see a drop in their numbers, with the return of DWTS and the finale of ANW. Viewership if off by about a half a million viewers a couple tenths of a point in each demo categories, from its last night of original episodes, two weeks earlier.

Preliminary L+SD Network Averages:

	Total viewers	A18-34	A18-49	A25-54
ABC	11.00 million	1.1	1.9	2.7
CBS	5.50 million	0.6	1.1	1.6
CW	1.20 million	0.3	0.4	0.5
FOX	2.40 million	0.7	0.8	1.0
NBC	6.10 million	1.4	2.0	2.5

Time	Net	Program	Viewers*	A18-34	A18-49	A25-54
8:00	ABC	Dancing With The Stars (SP)	13.60	1.3	2.3	3.3
10:00	ABC	#DanceBattle America	5.70	0.6	1.1	1.6
8:00	CBS	The Big Bang Theory [R]	7.10	0.9	1.6	2.3
8:30	CBS	The Odd Couple [R]	5.00	0.7	1.1	1.7
9:00	CBS	Scorpion [R]	4.70	0.6	1.0	1.4
10:00	CBS	NCIS: LA [R]	5.60	0.5	0.9	1.3
8:00	CW	Penn & Teller: Fool Us	1.50	0.4	0.5	0.6
9:00	CW	Whose Line is it Anyway?	1.10	0.2	0.3	0.5
9:30	CW	Significant Mother	0.50	0.1	0.2	0.2
8:00	FOX	So You Think You Can Dance (SF)	2.40	0.7	0.8	1.0
8:00	NBC	American Ninja Warrior (SF)	6.10	1.4	2.0	2.5

* - in millions