A big reveal in the season finale lifted CBS comedy “How I Met Your Mother” to its best young-adult demos since February, edging out NBC’s “The Voice” head to head. The Peacock prevailed on the night even though its music contest was down, while a good season finale for “Castle” contributed to ABC’s victory among total viewers.
According to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen, “How I Met Your Mother” averaged a 3.4 rating/11 share in adults 18-49 and 8.4 million viewers overall in the 8 o’clock hour (to a 3.3 in the demo for “The Voice”), spiking 31% week to week (from 2.6). It also edged out “The Voice” as the night’s No. 1 program among adults 18-34 (3.1 to 3.0). “Mother” revealed the identity of the titular mother in the closing moments Monday night, setting the show up for its final season starting in the fall.
Also for CBS, a repeat of “The Big Bang Theory” (2.4/7 in 18-49, 7.4 million viewers overall) was followed by “2 Broke Girls” (2.9/8 in 18-49, 8.9 million viewers overall), which was up 8% week to week (0.2) with its finale, and “Mike & Molly” (2.4/6 in 18-49, 8.3 million viewers overall), which was up a tick; all three half-hours placed second to NBC’s “The Voice” in 18-49. “Hawaii Five-O” (1.8/5 in 18-49, 7.7 million viewers overall) was off slightly week to week in advance of its season finale next week, finishing second to “Castle.”
At NBC, “The Voice” (3.6/10 in 18-49, 11.0 million viewers overall) was down 12% from last week’s final 18-49 average, though it typically rises by one or two tenths in the nationals. It remained the night’s No. 1 program in demos. And at 10, “Revolution” (1.9/5 in 18-49, 5.7 million viewers overall) was off a bit from last week.
Fox, whose Monday dramas wrapped two weeks ago, went with a two-hour “Hell’s Kitchen” (1.7/5 in 18-49, 4.0 million viewers overall), running fourth for its time period and down from the 1.9 it did in its regular Tuesday timeslot last week.
And at CW, the two-hour series finale of “90210” mustered a mere 621,000 viewers and a 0.3 rating in both adults 18-49 and 18-34.
Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: NBC, 3.1/9; CBS, 2.5/7; ABC, 2.0/6; Fox, 1.7/5; Univision, 1.4/4; CW, 0.3/1.
In total viewers: ABC, 12.4 million; NBC, 9.3 million; CBS, 8.1 million; Fox, 4.0 million; Univision, 3.5 million; CW, 0.6 million.
