Onetime CW savior The Vampire Diaries punched out last night, hitting a year-plus ratings high in the process.
The drama, which moved to Fridays for the bulk of its final two seasons, pulled a 0.5 rating among adults 18-49 and 1.2 million viewers at 9 p.m. Though only a tenth of a ratings point difference from last week, that’s still its best showing since early 2016.
The Vampire Diaries was the first big flagship for The CW. At its peak, its freshman season, the show drew upward of 4 million viewers and had a 2.0 rating. Its audience, which has since eroded in total, has also started skewing more and more digital. (The eighth and final season also doubles its showing with live-plus-7 ratings.)
Naturally, The Vampire Diaries was not the night’s top performer. Bragging rights go to a four-way tie of NBC’s Dateline and CBS’ Blue Bloods and Hawaii Five-0. Each of the three averaged a 1.1 rating in the key demo, Hawaii Five-0 being the second hour of a two-part crossover with MacGyver (1.1 adults).
CBS easily won the night by all measures and averaged a robust 8.9 million viewers.
