Fox's The Masked Singer is undoubtedly one of the most unique shows to hit the airwaves in recent years, and it has also largely dominated in the ratings throughout its first season and the second season so far. That said, it turns out that The Masked Singer is losing to a drama in a different category than the early numbers. Yes, NBC's This Is Us has the edge on The Masked Singer ratings once the numbers for a full week can be tallied.
Let's break it down and start with how far This Is Us needed to go to beat The Masked Singer. For the week of October 7, The Masked Singer easily beat This Is Us in the Live+Same day calculations, with the Fox series scoring a 2.0 in the key 18-49 age demographic and This Is Us winning only a 1.7. While a 1.7 was still solid enough to put This Is Us above most non-football broadcasts, the 0.3 difference between This Is Us and The Masked Singer was still significant. The Live+7 day numbers are where This Is Us have the edge.
For the week of October 7, Variety reports that This Is Us received a massive boost in the Live+7 calculations, jumping from 1.7 to 3.2. To contrast, The Masked Singer only jumped to a 3.1. Admittedly, This Is Us only has a slight edge with the 3.2 vs. the 3.1, but to get to 3.2, This Is Us got a boost of 1.5, which translates to 88%, whereas The Masked Singer's boost was only 1.1., a.k.a. 55%.
This Is Us was the highest-rated non-football broadcast for the week of October 7 in Live+7, and there are big reasons why this is a trend that could continue. Much like football broadcasts, episodes of The Masked Singer are best watched live for fans who don't want to be spoiled.
It doesn't take long for news of the unmasked celebrity to spread through social media after the Eastern Standard Time broadcast, and following along with episodes and seeing guesses is a big part of the fun of The Masked Singer for social-savvy fans. To contrast, This Is Us spoilers about the latest Pearson family drama are much easier to avoid.
Even though This Is Us and The Masked Singer air in different time slots on different nights, it tracks that viewers might not feel too inclined to catch This Is Us until whenever is convenient, and it's possible that means the weekend. Since This Is Us airs on Tuesdays, weekend viewers' numbers wouldn't be accounted in either Live+Same day or Live+3 day ratings.
If This Is Us continues to keep fans hooked and perhaps even accumulate viewers, it could maintain its edge in the ratings on The Masked Singer moving forward. Only time will tell. Interestingly, The Masked Singer's great ratings continue to fail to bolster the numbers for the show that follows it in the Fox Wednesday lineup, while New Amsterdam does well following This Is Us on Tuesdays.
CinemaBlend breaks down the biggest twists and trends in the ratings for TV each week, so be sure to check back on Fridays to see our latest rundown of TV ratings. Last week saw One Chicago on NBC kill with its crossover, while another show totally missed the target.
