NBC has fallen to fifth place behind CBS, Fox, ABC, and Univision.
According to the LA Times , NBCs fall to fifth comes as a bit of a shock since the network recently experienced its best fall in years. The network climbed to the top of the rating after getting a huge advertising push from the Summer Olympics. They also scored big audiences with their surprise hit Revolution and Sunday football games.
But NBC’s reign at the top was short-lived. According to Deadline , the network is projected to finish fifth for the first time in sweeps history. NBC averaged a 1.2 rating among 18-49 year olds between January 31 and February 19. Univision, on the other-hand, averaged 1.5 in the same demo.
This is the first time that Univision has beaten NBC.
NBC’s fall from grace may come as a bit of a surprise due to its success last year, but the network has had a few major flops recently. Do No Harm, which premiered on January 31, had the worst opening for an in-season scripted series in network history. It has since been cancelled. 1600 Penn is still on the air, but it isn’t doing any favors for NBC. The show had a 1.1/3 rating during its last episode. Smash, which had a promising debut, saw its audience drop 71 percent for premiere of season 2.
NBC also failed to get a rating boost from returning comedy Community .
Gary Carr, senior vice president at the media agency TargetCast, told the LA Times :
“I hate to say it, but they’re in trouble. Nothing’s really held. Go night by night, and they don’t really have anything … They don’t seem to have a whole lot of great shows coming down the line.”
Are you surprised that NBC has fallen to fifth place?