| Scoreboard | ABC | NBC | CBS | FOX | CW |
| Adults 18-49: rating/Share | 1.3/5 | 1.3/4 | 0.8/3 | 0.8/3 | 0.5/2 |
| Total Viewers (million) | 4.76 | 5.20 | 5.44 | 2.02 | 1.52 |
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ABC and NBC tied for number one among adults 18-49, while CBS was the top network in total viewers.
On NBC, Who Do You Think You Are? scored a 1.0 adults 18-49 rating, up from last week's 0.9. The season finale of Grimm earned a 1.6among adults 18-49 up 33% from last week's 1.2, ranking as the night's highest rated program in the demographic. It was the show's highest rated episode since January 20, 2012. Dateline garnered a 1.1 down from last week's 1.2.
On ABC, the season finale of Shark Tank earned a1.5 among adults 18-49, down from last week's 1.7. Primetime: What Would You Do? scored a 1.2 adults 18-49 rating, falling from last week's 1.5. 20/20 got a 1.2 among adults 18-49, down from last week's 1.4.
On the CW, the season finale of Nikita earned a 0.4adults 18-49 rating, even with last week. The season finale of Supernatural got a 0.6, down from last weelks 0.7.
Late night ratings below the primetime table.
Overnight broadcast primetime ratings for Friday, May 18, 2012:
| Net | Show | 18-49 Rating/Sh | Viewers (Millions) |
| ABC | Shark Tank (Season Finale) | 1.5/6 | 5.53 |
| NBC | Who Do You Think You Are? | 1.0/4 | 5.54 |
| CBS | Undercover Boss - R | 0.8/3 | 4.26 |
| FOX | Kitchen Nighmares (8-10PM) - R | 0.8/3 | 2.02 |
| CW | Nikita (Season Finale) | 0.4/2 | 1.47 |
| NBC | Grimm (Season Finale) | 1.6/5 | 5.31 |
| ABC | Primetime: What Would You Do? | 1.2/4 | 4.33 |
| CBS | CSI: NY - R | 0.8/3 | 5.61 |
| CW | Supernatural (Season Finale) | 0.6/2 | 1.57 |
| ABC | 20/20 | 1.2/4 | 4.43 |
| NBC | Dateline NBC | 1.1/4 | 4.76 |
| CBS | Blue Bloods - R | 0.8/3 | 6.45 |
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via NBC press note:
In late-night metered-market households Friday night:
- In Nielsen's 56 metered markets, household results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 2.7/7; CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman," 2.1/5; and ABC's combo of "Nightline," 2.9/7; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 1.5/4.
- In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, adult 18-49 results were: “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” 0.9/4; "Late Show," 0.5/2; "Nightline," 0.9/4; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 0.6/3.
- At 1:35 a.m., "Last Call with Carson Daly" averaged a 0.8/3 in metered-market households with an encore and a 0.2/2 in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters.
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2012 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
NOTE: All ratings are "live plus same day" from Nielsen Media Research unless otherwise indicated.
Definitions:
Rating: Estimated percentage of the universe of TV households (or other specified group) tuned to a program in the average minute. Ratings are expressed as a percent. More information on ratings is available here.
Share (of Audience): The percent of households (or persons) using television who are tuned to a specific program, station or network in a specific area at a specific time. (See also, Rating, which represents tuning or viewing as a percent of the entire population being measured.)
Fast Affiliate Ratings: These first national ratings, including demographics, are available at approximately 11 AM (ET) the day after telecast, and are released to subscribing customers daily. These data, from the National People Meter sample, are strictly time-period information, based on the normal broadcast network feed, and include all programming on the affiliated stations, sometimes including network programming, sometimes not. The figures may include stations that did not air the entire network feed, as well as local news breaks or cutaways for local coverage or other programming. Fast Affiliate ratings are not as useful for live programs and are likely to differ significantly from the final results, because the data reflect normal broadcast feed patterns. For example, with a World Series game, Fast Affiliate Ratings would include whatever aired from 8-11PM on affiliates in the Pacific Time Zone, following the live football game, but not game coverage that begins at 5PM PT. The same would be true of Presidential debates as well as live award shows and breaking news reports.
Time Shifted Viewing – Program ratings for national sources are produced in three streams of data – Live, Live+Same Day (Live+SD) and Live+7 Day. Time shifted figures account for incremental viewing that takes place with DVRs. Live+Same Day (Live+SD) include viewing during the same broadcast day as the original telecast, with a cut-off of 3:00AM local time when meters transmit daily viewing to Nielsen for processing. Live+7 Day ratings include incremental viewing that takes place during the 7 days following a telecast.
For more information see Numbers 101 and Numbers 102.
wow go grimm!! Up nearly 1 million viewers!!!
Only reason Grimm rated that well was because CBS were repeats. Grimm is not strong enough to rate well against original competition on all networks.
Go Grimm! It’s been one of the most consistent shows this season, ratings-wise. I believe it started the season with a 1.8, and now it’s finishing with a 1.6.
Oh crap SPN.
Not fair f
@Jon27288265 thats funny because Grimm has won its time slot many times throughout the year
Not fair for Nikita since baseball was on yesterday in NorCal.
Good for Grimm even though it didn’t have much competition.
Nikita is holding onto its .4 for dear life.
Half Hours for SPN
0.7/1.70
0.6/1.45
Every time it has been 0.7/0.6 it has been adjusted up to 0.7 in the finals, because overall viewers usually goes up in finals. Unless it is not preempted in a major market.
Supernatural + 1 = Grimm! Damn!
BTW
Grimm Half Hours
1.7/5.40
1.6/5.22
@DougF
Are you serious? 1.70 – 1.45? Why did a considerable amount of audience go out the middle of the episode?
Good for Grimm. Looking forward to season 2.
HH of Nikita ?
@KS what does that even mean??
Yeah well done grimm
Hrm. I wonder did SPN shed some viewers to Grimm. No worries, they are on different nights next year and SPN has already been renewed.
It’ll probably get adjusted up anyway, but I wonder if the spoilers coming out of the J2 interviews at the upfronts turned people off. Almost all of my friends hated the finale (I’m sure the people who think Dean and Cas will have sex in the trees were happy lol), so I wonder how the ratings will do when they come back against fierce competition
Supernatural
Hopefully it gets adjusted up. Next season should be interesting with a new timeslot and Arrow as its lead in.
the grimm finale was awesome! i didn’t really care for the first 5 or so episodes, but stuck with it…and it just kept getting better and better…now it might be my favorite show. good to see the finale get such good ratings, can’t wait for season 2!