Taylor Swift (center) with her "Bad Blood" music video cast, Zendaya (far left), Hailee Steinfeld, Lily Aldridge and Martha Hunt at the Billboard Music Awards red carpet in Las Vegas on May 17.
Never underestimate the thrall of Taylor Swift. Sunday’s Billboard Music Awards, which featured the singer cleaning up eight kudos and debuting her latest music video, grew yet again for ABC.
The three-hour telecast averaged a preliminary 11.1 million viewers and a 3.7 rating among adults 18-49. Both modest increases from the last go-around, the numbers mark a third consecutive year of growth for the show — and, in the case of the total viewership, a 14-year high.
ABC easily topped the broadcast competition for the night. While some viewers were no doubt lured away by AMC’s series finale of Mad Men, Fox scored the No. 2 ranking for Sunday with several season finales. Bob’s Burgers aired its in two parts, with a respective 0.9 and 1.1 rating among adults 18-49, while The Simpsons (1.2 adults) held steady. Brooklyn Nine-Nine (1.1 adults) and Family Guy (1.3 adults) were down a respective two- and four-tenths of a point.
An I Love Lucy special nabbed a 0.9 rating among adults 18-49 before a two-hour Battle Creek burn-off brought the canceled show down two-tenths of a point to a 0.6 rating in the key demo.
It was not the only scripted series to further falter. NBC’s A.D.: The Bible Continues (0.8 adults) and American Odyssey (0.4 adults), both of which are still in renewal limbo at the network, hit lows.
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