The average adults 18-49 rating for an entertainment show on the big four networks during premiere week is 1.9, including three days of delayed viewing.
By that standard, six of the 11 new (or “new,” in the case of two revived comedies) series that debuted on ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC are below average.
The newcomers fared a little better when measuring by total viewers: Seven of the 11 are above the all-network average of 9.15 million in Nielsen’s live-plus-3 rankings. Only three shows — NBC dramas Manifest and New Amsterdam and Fox comedy Last Man Standing — are above average in both measures.
Manifest, the top-rated series debut in the same-day ratings, kept its status after three days of catch-up viewing. The Jeff Rake-created drama has both the biggest raw numbers of any new series (a 3.6 in the 18-49 demo, 16.13 million viewers) and the biggest gains (1.4 points in the demo, 5.72 million viewers). It’s also among the top three nonsports shows of the week overall.
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New Amsterdam is at 2.7 in the 18-49 demo, second among new shows and seventh overall, and 12.26 million viewers, third among rookies behind Manifest and CBS’ FBI (12.92 million). It also had the second-largest gains of any new show in both adults 18-49 and viewers.
Last Man Standing built on its strong initial ratings, growing to a 2.5 in the demo — its highest Friday rating ever — and 10.83 million viewers. Fox says multiplatform viewing pushes the show to 11.5 million viewers, making it the network’s most watched comedy in seven years (excluding post-NFL airings).
The show’s Friday-night companion, The Cool Kids, is at 2.0 in adults 18-49 and 8.65 million viewers (9.3 million with multiplatform).
At the other end of the scale, Sunday shows God Friended Me and Rel had the smallest 18-49 gains, each growing by two-tenths of a point. Rel also added the smallest number of viewers with 446,000; every other new series tacked on at least 1.4 million viewers after three days.
Here are the 11 new shows’ live-plus-3 ratings for the week of Sept. 24.
Adults 18-49
Manifest (NBC), 3.6
New Amsterdam (NBC), 2.7
Last Man Standing (Fox), 2.5
The Cool Kids (Fox), 2.0
Single Parents (ABC), 1.9
A Million Little Things (ABC), 1.8
FBI (CBS), 1.8
Magnum P.I. (CBS), 1.7
Murphy Brown (CBS), 1.6
God Friended Me (CBS), 1.5
Rel (Fox), 1.0
Viewers (in millions)
Manifest, 16.13
FBI, 12.92
New Amsterdam, 12.26
God Friended Me, 11.56
Magnum P.I., 10.98
Last Man Standing, 10.83
Murphy Brown, 10.38
The Cool Kids, 8.65
A Million Little Things, 7.86
Single Parents, 6.65
Rel, 2.44
