Television’s biggest night is back with both a flash and a bang. An astronomical 4.2 million viewers watched the season premiere of THE BIG BANG THEORY last night on CTV, making it the #1 program of the day and delivering the most-watched overnight audience in series history. Meanwhile, the mystery of the Thursday at 10 p.m. timeslot is not so elementary after all. While ELEMENTARY shed viewers in its series debut (down 5% in its second half hour, A25-54), CTV’s FLASHPOINT grew (up 4% in its second half hour, A25-54), posting incredible double-digit, week-over-week gains with total viewers, A18-34, and A18-49 against its Premiere Week competition and ending the night with a solid 1.6 million viewers.More than one in three key adult viewers watching TV last night in Canada tuned into the THE BIG BANG THEORY, which was sampled by nearly six million viewers overall. The episode becomes the most-watched broadcast on Canadian television since the season finale delivered 4.7 million viewers in May.*
In Toronto, THE BIG BANG THEORY delivered an incredible Share with nearly one in two viewers tuning in to some part of the broadcast for A18-34 (45%), A18-49 (43%), and A25-54 (42%). Meanwhile, the premiere delivered double digit Ratings in the market for A18-34 (16.2), A25-54 (15.8) and A18-49 (15.2).
With a record number of viewers tuned in to see newly-married Howard handle a dispute from space with wife Bernadette and his mother, CTV’s new Thursday night power lineup toppled the competition. CTV wins Night Four of Premiere Week with total viewers and all key demos with an average audience of 2.5 million from 8-11 p.m., more viewers than Global, CBC, and Citytv combined.
Overall, CTV delivered four out of five Top 5 shows on Canadian television Thursday night, with THE BIG BANG THEORY (#1, +14%) and GREY’S ANATOMY (#3, +11%) delivering double-digit growth with total viewers from last fall’s season premieres, TWO AND A HALF MEN (#2) growing 32% versus last season’s average, and FLASHPOINT (#5) growing 11% in its second week.
A closer look at Night Four of Premiere Week:
8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
• THE BIG BANG THEORY/TWO AND A HALF MEN at 8 and 8:30 p.m. were the top two programs of the day with total viewers and all key adult demos, with nearly triple the viewers of LAST RESORT (1.3 million; Global/ABC).
9 p.m.
• The season premiere of GREY’S ANATOMY won its timeslot with total viewers and all key demos, with twice the audience of an off-key GLEE (1.3 million; Global/FOX), down 17% versus last week.
10 p.m.
• Against the Global/CBS simulcast premiere of ELEMENTARY, CTV’sFLASHPOINT actually grew in its timeslot to land a close #2 in the hour with 1.6 million viewers. Up 11% with total viewers, FLASHPOINT grew 59% (A18-34), 25% (A18-49), and 1% (A25-54) from last week’s season premiere.
Source: BBM Canada, overnight vs. overnight
*Non-Olympic broadcast
