Ratings Watch: Oscars Dominate (But Drop), Empire Rises (Again) and The Walking Dead Reanimates
The 87th Academy Awards added an additional 1.1 million viewers after three days of DVR and VOD use – but it still fell substantially from last year’s audience totals.
Mixed reviews for host Neil Patrick Harris and a lesser-seen best picture winner (Birdman) led to a big decline from last year’s Oscars (38.4 million viewers in Live+3 totals, compared to 45.1 million).
Elsewhere, Two and a Half Men ended its run after 12 years with creator Chuck Lorre and a Charlie Sheen double both being smashed by falling pianos, and attracted its largest audience in 2 years – 16.2 million viewers in Live+3, adding nearly 2.7 million viewers in delayed viewing. That was the show’s best rating since January 3, 2013, when an episode averaged 17.2 million viewers.
AMC’s The Walking Dead regained quite a bit of mojo: A week after tough competition (Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special) brought the zombies down to 17.5 million viewers, the Oscars wasn’t nearly as formidable competition, and the show rose again to 18.3 million (thanks to a whopping 4.8 million viewers watching the show in the three days following its telecast).
Also adding 4.8 million viewers in Live+3 was NBC’s The Blacklist and CBS’ The Big Bang Theory.
Fox’s Empire also continues to impress, increasing its audience every week since launch, for what’s now an unprecedented streak.
And billed as “the most confrontational” episode of Shark Tank yet, three Sharks walked off the set — and it paid off in the ratings, attracting the reality show’s second-largest audience ever.
Here’s the top 25 show ranker for the week ending February 22, 2015.
RANK |
SHOW & NETWORK |
LIVE+3 |
WATCHED |
1 |
87th Academy Awards ABC |
38.4 |
37.3 |
2 |
The Big Bang Theory CBS |
22.3 |
17.5 |
3 |
NCIS CBS |
21 |
18.1 |
4 |
The Walking Dead AMC |
18.3 |
13.4 |
5 |
Live from the Red Carpet ABC |
18.1 |
17.9 |
6 |
NCIS: New Orleans CBS |
17.3 |
14.7 |
7 |
Empire Fox |
16.8 |
13 |
8 |
Two and a Half Men CBS |
16.2 |
13.5 |
9 |
The Odd Couple CBS |
15.2 |
13.6 |
10 |
Blue Bloods CBS |
14.7 |
11.6 |
11 |
Hawaii Five-0 CBS |
13.5 |
10.7 |
12 |
Scandal ABC |
13.4 |
9.6 |
13 |
How to Get Away with Murder ABC |
13.1 |
8.9 |
14 |
Modern Family ABC |
12.6 |
8.9 |
15 |
The Blacklist NBC |
12.5 |
7.7 |
16 |
American Idol (Wednesday) Fox |
12.3 |
10.7 |
17 |
The Mentalist CBS |
12.2 |
10.1 |
18 |
Person of Interest CBS |
11.7 |
9.2 |
19 |
Elementary CBS |
11.6 |
8.2 |
20 |
Castle ABC |
11.5 |
8.5 |
21 |
Grey’s Anatomy ABC |
11.1 |
8.1 |
22 |
Mike & Molly CBS |
10.7 |
9.3 |
23 |
American Idol (Thursday) Fox |
10.4 |
9 |
25 |
Shark Tank ABC |
10.2 |
8.4 |
Total viewers; in millions |