Two weeks from its finale, CBS drama “Under the Dome” was easily the top-rated program on Monday, benefiting from the end of the CBS-Time Warner blackout to hit four-week ratings highs.
Also of note Monday was a season high for NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior,” while ABC’s “Mistresses” was on the rise. Overall, TV usage was up week to week in 18-49, according to Nielsen, as Labor Day typically marks the start of increased tune-in leading up to the new season.
According to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen, “Under the Dome” averaged a 2.6 rating/7 share in adults 18-49 and 10.7 million viewers overall, up a tick in the demo from last week and the show’s best score since it did a 2.6 on Aug. 5; it hasn’t done higher than this 2.6 since the week before the start of the Time Warner blackout, which took the CBS signal off roughly 3.2 million customers in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas.
Week to week, the rating in New York surged 26% (2.65 vs. 2.1) to a seven-week high in the market. Los Angeles was down week to week but had its best showing since before the Time Warner blackout, while Dallas was roughly flat week to week.
Earlier, CBS aired encores of “How I Met Your Mother” (1.1/3 in 18-49, 4.3 million viewers overall), “Mike & Molly” (1.0/3 in 18-49, 4.2 million viewers overall), “2 Broke Girls” (1.2/3 in 18-49, 5.2 million viewers overall) and a second “Mike & Molly” (1.4/4 in 18-49, 5.9 million viewers overall).
NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior” (1.8/5 in 18-49, 5.5 million viewers overall) won Monday’s first two hours in adults 18-49, rising 6% from its hourlong score of last week and 20% better than two weeks ago. Closing out the night for NBC was firstrun drama “Siberia” (0.7/2 in 18-49, 1.9 million viewers overall), which was up a bit in some categories.
At ABC, a repeat of “Shark Tank” (1.1 rating/3 share in adults 18-49, 4.6 million viewers overall) was followed by firstrun drama “Mistresses” (1.3/4 in 18-49, 4.1 million viewers overall), which seems to be doing a little better in its new timeslot, away from “Under the Dome”; it was up for a second straight week to post its second best 18-49 score to date while hitting a series high in adults 18-34 (1.1/4). And at 10, ABC aired a repeat of “Castle” (0.7/2 in 18-49, 3.8 million viewers overall).
Fox remains a laggard on the night, airing encores of comedies “Raising Hope” (0.7/2 in 18-49, 2.0 million viewers overall at 8 p.m. and 0.7/2 in 18-49, 1.9 million viewers overall at 8:30), “New Girl” (0.7/2 in 18-49, 1.7 million viewers overall) and “The Mindy Project” (0.6/2 in 18-49, 1.5 million viewers overall).
Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: CBS, 1.6/5; NBC, 1.4/4; Univision, 1.2/3; ABC, 1.1/3; Fox, 0.7/2; Telemundo, 0.4/1; CW, 0.2/0.
In total viewers: CBS, 6.8 million; NBC, 4.3 million; ABC, 4.2 million; Univision, 3.2 million; Fox, 1.8 million; Telemundo, 1.1 million; CW, 0.6 million.
