UPDATED 5:30 p.m. PT Nov. 19, 2007
NEW YORK — Jimmy Kimmel’s ad-libbed hosting duties for Sunday night’s American Music Awards boosted the ABC telecast slightly.
Fox took Sunday’s primetime thanks to a football overrun and strong episodes of “The Simpsons” and “Family Guy,” while ABC took second place with its AMA telecast that was up over last year’s low.
The AMA telecast averaged 11.8 million viewers and a 4.8 rating/11 share in the adults 18-49 demographic, according to preliminary estimates by Nielsen Media Research. Final data won’t be released until Tuesday, but it was up by more than 1 million viewers from last year and up a tenth of a rating point in the demo. It was the best total-viewer numbers since 2004’s telecast, when it aired on a Tuesday.
The half-hour of the “NFL on Fox” gave Fox a head start in the adults 18-49 demographic, while CBS won in viewership for the night. NBC probably tied with ABC for second place in the demo with its coverage of “Sunday Night Football,” though it will be Tuesday before reliable numbers are published.
Beyond the 20.7 million viewers between 7 and 7:30 p.m., Fox won the 8 p.m. half-hour with “Simpsons” (10.5 million, 5.3/13) and didn’t win but did well at 9 p.m. with “Family Guy” (10.5 million, 5.4/12).
For the night, Fox (11.6 million, 5.3/13) won in primetime, followed by ABC (10.6 million, 4.2/10), CBS (13.5 million, 3.3/8), NBC (10.9 million, 4.2/10) and the CW (1.3 million, 0.5/1).
