NBC Wins Premiere Week for a Fourth Straight Year

Sunday Night Football is No. 1 among Big 4 primetime shows. Two Voice telecasts and Blindspot ranked in the Top 10. Best Time Ever and Heroes Reborn finished in the top 25. In addition, NBC extended its 18-49 unbeaten streak to 12 weeks in a row, the longest for any network in six years.

NBC has won the opening week of the new primetime season for a fourth consecutive year, leading Week 1 of the 2014-15 campaign among the Big 4 networks in the key 18-49 demographic, plus adults 25-54, adults 18-34 and every other key demographic.

According to "live plus same day" viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research, NBC averaged a 2.7 rating, 9 share in adults 18-49 and 8.9 million viewers over all for the week of Sept. 21-27.

NBC’s Sunday Night Football is the No. 1 primetime telecast of the week on the Big 4 in adults 18-49, total viewers, adults 25-54, adults 18-34 and all key adult-male demos.

Also ranking in the top 10 among the week’s Big 4 primetime programs in adults 18-49 were both the Tuesday and Wednesday editions of The Voice (tied for No. 5) and Monday’s premiere of Blindspot (No. 9, and the week’s top-rated new program). Joining those shows in the Top 25 were Tuesday’s Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris (tied for No. 23) and Thursday’s series debut of Heroes Reborn (No. 25). Rankings exclude sports pre- and post-game shows.

It’s the 12th consecutive week NBC has ranked No. 1 or tied for No. 1 among the Big 4 networks in adults 18-49, the longest unbeaten streak for any network in six years, since Fox won 17 weeks in a row in 2009 from the week of Feb. 2 to the week of May 25, 2009. The 12-week streak is also NBC’s longest in 12 years, since the network finished No. 1 or tied for No. 1 for 16 consecutive weeks in 2003 from the week of May 26 through the week of Sept. 8, 2003.

NBC’s premiere-week win in the key 18-49 demo follows the network’s second consecutive season-long win, with a 2014-15 victory that NBC accomplished with or without its boost last season from February’s Super Bowl. NBC also ranked No. 1 or tied for No. 1 for the 2014-15 season in adults 25-54, adults 18-34 and all key adult-male demos, including an outright win over CBS in adults 25-54.

Primetime averages for the week of Sept. 21-27 in adults 18-49 are: NBC, 2.7/9; CBS, 2.5/8; ABC, 1.7/6; Fox, 1.6/5; and CW, 0.3/1. In overall total viewers, the weekly averages were: CBS, 10.9 million; NBC, 8.9 million; ABC, 6.9 million; Fox, 4.2 million; and CW, 1.0 million.