| Scoreboard | NBC | ABC | CBS | FOX | UNI | CW |
| Adults 18-49: rating/Share | 4.6/10 | 3.8/8 | 2.7/6 | 2.0/4 | 1.4/3 | 0.5/1 |
| Adults 18-34: Rating/Share | 4.0/10 | 3.8/8 | 2.4/6 | 2.0/5 | 1.3/3 | 0.4/1 |
| Total Viewers (million) | 12.56 | 11.15 | 8.42 | 4.95 | 3.525 | 1.547 |
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Due to the live nature of last night's election coverage and frequent local election news breaks Fast Affiliate Ratings for Tuesday are approximate and subject to more than the typical adjustment in the finals
NBC was the number one network in adults 18-49 and with total viewers.
FOX's election coverage was even with '08 (2.0), ABC's election coverage earned a 3.8 and was down from last election year's 4.5. CBS's election coverage earned a 2.7, which was up from last election year's 2.3 and NBC earned a 4.6, which was up from last election year's 4.5
Broadcast primetime ratings for Tuesday, November 6, 2012:
| Time | Net | Show | 18-49 Rating | 18-49 Share | Viewers Live+SD (million) |
| 8:00PM | NBC | 2012 Election Night (8-11PM) | 4.6 | 10 | 12.56 |
| ABC | ABC News Your Voice Your Vote 2012 (8-11PM) | 3.8 | 8 | 11.15 | |
| CBS | Campaign 2012: CBS News Coverage of Election Night (8-11PM) | 2.7 | 6 | 8.42 | |
| FOX | FOX News Election Special: You Decide 2012 (8-10PM) | 2.0 | 4 | 4.95 | |
| CW | Arrow -R | 0.6 | 1 | 1.81 | |
| tvbythenumbers.com | |||||
| 9:00PM | CW Emily Owens MD -R | 0.4 | 1 | 1.28 | |
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NOTE: All national ratings are "live plus same day" from Nielsen Media Research unless otherwise indicated.
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2012 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
You can see TV ratings from other recent Overnight ratings reports here.
Definitions:
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.
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.
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.)
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.
people watched FNC than the local fox station is my guess. rove may dispute me though.
ABC all night for 6 hours. Happy with the final outcome revealed at 8:15 PM on the west coast.
Once again, the results for last night prove that people can and do have the ability to locate NBC on their TV’s.
The fact that NBC (in years leading up to this one) has been largely ignored by viewers is because their shows have not been as good as the other nets.
Lol at an Emily repeat doing better than an original ep, hope people that checked it out this week turn in next week as well, so that it gets an uptick to it’s usual performance.
Maybe Fox should have kept election coverage on Fox News Channel and instead have had Fox’s broadcast network present a two-hour “sneak preview auditions” special for the new season of “American Idol”.
I think an “Idol” “sneak preview” could have gotten a 30 to 40 share if properly promoted and would have “killed” the election night competition.
Arrow’s episode is already available on Torrent websites.
@DW, as far as I can tell, FNC and FOX network coverage was different.
Repeat of Arrow ties an original Beauty and the Beast…
Can someone tell me what happened at Fox News last night? I only saw tweets about Fox News but none telling more. I watched NBC, CNN and CBS last night.
@Mon, Karl Rove was in the first Stage of Grief, (not for TV fans).
@ max im sure it was i didnt see it. but the way that everything has been covered this election , more people are going to watch FNC than fox network.
What about Univision election coverage? I watched that one and ABC.
@Eliroque, Univision is in the scoreboard.
Rofl. Arrow repeat on election night beats out original 90210 and GG. Are you paying attention, Mr.Pedowitz?
@Max Vrany
Thanks!
I now understand why NBC keeps winning these kinds of similar programming. I was watching last night and amongst the big four NBC’s coverage was the most dynamic, exciting and wide ranging one. While the other networks spend long stretches of time talking to one person NBC kept cutting to different locations and different people keeping things really fresh and energized.
Watched CNN mostly, but flipped between Anderson & Diane on ABC where she & George were noticably “tanked.”
Think people watched NBC hoping for promos of “the Voice.”
Emily Owens 0.4–go figure!
Ratings from 4 years ago: http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2008/11/05/election-night-ratings-abc-wins-viewers-nbc-demos-cbs-nothin/7649/
Ratings summary with previous elections from 4 years ago: http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2008/11/05/record-71-million-watch-election-night-tv-coverage/7667/
Four more years of no progress…ugh. Oh well.
Why is it that nbc gets the higher numbers with these type of show?