TV Ratings Thursday: 'Big Bang Theory', 'Two and a Half Men', 'Person of Interest', 'Grey's Anatomy', 'Scandal' & 'Elementary' Up; 'The X Factor' Down

Last night’s Thursday Night Football game (Bengals/Eagles) was simulcast on the CBS affiliate in Cincinnati and the ABC affiliate in Philadelphia. As a result, the CBS and ABC numbers may be inflated  and subject to more than typical adjustments in the finals.

CBS won the night in adults 18-49 and in Total Viewers.

On CBS, The Big Bang Theory earned 5.4 up 4% from last week's 5.2 adults 18-49 rating Two and a Half Men garnered a 4.2 up from 5% last week's 4.0 among adults 18-49. Person Of Interest scored a 3.0 up 3% from last week's 2.9 adults 18-49 rating. Elementary notched a 2.3 up 5% from last week's 2.1 adults 18-49 rating. However, remember that football preemptions could have impacted these numbers.

On FOX,  The X Factor earned a 2.4 down 4% from last week's 2.5 adults 18-49 rating.  Glee scored a 2.0, down 9%  from last week's 2.2 adults 18-49 rating.

On ABC, Last Resort earned a 1.2 adults 18-49 rating even with last week. Grey's Anatomy earned 3.1, up 3% from last week's season low 3.0 rating. Scandal earned a series high (if the number holds) 2.7 up 8%  from last week’s 2.5 adults 18-49 rating. Most of your predictions were too pessimistic. Note that ABC was preempted in Philadelphia for football, so these numbers may be adjusted.

On NBC, a 8PM episode of Up All Night scored a series low 0.9 adults 18-49 rating, down from a 1.1 in the time period last week.  A second episode of Up All Night garnered a 1.1 adults 18-49 rating down 8% from last week’s 1.2 adults 18-49 rating. Take It All  notched a 1.2 adults 18-49 rating up 9% from Wednesday’s 1.1. Rock Center garnered a 0.9, down 10% from last week's 1.0 adults 18-49 rating. NBC did, indeed, average a 1.0 for the night. Most of your predictions were accurate.

On the CW, Vampire Diaries scored a 1.2 adults 18-49 rating, even with last week. Beauty And The Beast earned a 0.6 adults 18-49 rating, up 20% from last week's 0.5.

Late-night ratings are below the primetime data.

Overnight ratings for Thursday, December 13, 2012:

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Late night ratings:

via press note

In Late-Night Metered Markets Thursday night:
>
> *        In Nielsen's 56 metered markets, household results were: "The
> Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 2.5/6; CBS's "Late Show with David
> Letterman," 2.8/7; and ABC's combo of "Nightline," 3.3/8; and "Jimmy
> Kimmel Live," 1.7/5.  
>
> *        In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, adult 18-49 results
> were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 0.8/4; "Late Show," 0.7/3;
> "Nightline," 1.4/6; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 0.8/4.
>
> *        At 12:35 a.m., "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (1.3/5 in
> metered-market households) tied CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig
> Ferguson" (1.3/5).  In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, "Late
> Night" (0.4/3 in 18-49) tied "Late Late Show" (0.4/2).
>
> *        At 1:35 a.m., "Last Call with Carson Daly" averaged a 0.8/3 in
> metered-market households and a 0.3/2 in adults 18-49 in the 25
> markets with local people meters.

NOTE: All ratings are "live plus same day" from Nielsen Media Research unless otherwise indicated.

Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2012 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
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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 baseball 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.