For the first time in almost a decade, NBC has pulled through to win premiere week. At least, well, sort of. During premiere week, NBC pulled in the highest numbers in the coveted 18-49 demographic, which is good for garnering advertising money, and good for the network itself, which hasn’t won in nine years. However, NBC did not win when it came to total viewers, a trophy that, unsurprisingly, went to CBS.
According to EW, both networks are stating they have won the week, although NBC’s victory is probably more impressive, as they have both pulled an underdog victory and won the hearts of advertisers, everywhere. Because of this, we’ll toss CBS’ normal ratings crushing aside and focus on NBC and what this week’s victory means for the network.
Namely, it doesn’t mean much. While it will be pretty cool for the peacock network to send out press releases over the next couple of weeks denoting their ratings shares during premiere week, if the numbers don’t continue to perform solidly, NBC will be back toward the bottom of the barrel. At least the network can always dominate the CW’s numbers, though.
If we look at NBC’s two biggest programs right now, they are probably the NFL’s Sunday Night Football and The Voice. The network is up 12% from last fall, but football was also up 23% last week, so that didn’t hurt. Additionally, The Voice tends to suffer once the audition rounds are over, and new premieres that are faring well like Revolution and Go On have to keep their numbers up over the next few weeks as audiences settle in. NBC may not dominate as the season progresses, but the network still has at least a few programs that should endear audiences and bring people in. They haven’t won the war, yet, but they are starting to turn around the battle.
