TV Ratings: ABC Move Does Nothing for Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show

The “angels” may still have their wings, but Victoria’s Secret’s TV efforts cannot appear to achieve liftoff.

The embattled lingerie brand’s annual holiday special, airing on ABC after years on a CBS contract, hit a new ratings low during its Sunday broadcast.

Facing a night of NFL, a move that certainly didn’t help the show, the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show averaged a limp 0.9 rating among adults 18-49 and only 3.3 million viewers. That followed another year of lows and marked a steep 40 percent drop in the key demo.

Victoria’s Secret’s low ratings are the least of its problems. The brand, made famous by parading the world’s highest-paid models in the most-revealing ensembles, has suffered in a post-#MeToo world. A damning November interview with Vogue prompted outcry from the LGBTQ community for the brand’s dismissal of transgender models, and CEO Jan Singer has since resigned.

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On the football front, NBC’s matchup of the San Diego Chargers and the Pittsburgh Steelers was down from the previous week’s showing of Sunday Night Football. But it remained dominant in primetime, earning an overnight 12.0 rating among households before time-zone adjustments.

Elsewhere, 60 Minutes celebrated the late George H.W. Bush with 10.5 million viewers and a 1.3 rating among adults 18-49 for CBS. That led into the special Garth: Live at Notre Dame (1.3 adults) and a repeat of NCIS: Los Angeles.

Fox got a solid lift from its late-running NFL game that bled into the 7 p.m. hour, as The Simpsons (1.6 adults), Bob’s Burgers (1.2 adults) and Family Guy (1.2 adults) all moved up. Rel did not, holding at a 0.6 rating in the key demo.

ABC’s pre-Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show offerings were still smaller than the program itself — at least where adults 18-49 are concerned. America’s Funniest Home Videos led with a 0.8 rating, before Dancing With the Stars: Juniors (0.6 adults) and Shark Tank (0.7 adults).

On The CW, Supergirl (0.4 adults) and Charmed (0.3 adults) both saw some improvement.