TV Ratings: NBA, 'Grinch' duo lead ABC to Christmas Night win split

CBS dominates overall with 'NCIS,' 'NCIS: Los Angeles' repeats

By Daniel Fienberg Wednesday, Dec 26, 2012 11:46 AM

Jim Carrey in "Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas"

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Fast National ratings for Tuesday, December 25, 2012.

Runover from pre-primetime NBA coverage, plus both the animated and feature film incarnations of "Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas" helped ABC dominate Christmas Tuesday among young viewers, though CBS' "NCIS" and 'NCIS: Los Angeles" repeats still ruled primetime overall.

Among adults 18-49, ABC averaged a 2.0 rating for Tuesday night, easily beating CBS' 1.3 rating in the key demographic. NBC's 0.9 key demo rating beat the 0.6 key demo rating for FOX and the 0.2 key demo rating for The CW.

Overall, though, CBS dominated primetime with a 5.1/ rating/10 share and 8.12 million viewers. ABC was a distant second with 5.345 million viewers and a 2.8/5. NBC was third with 2.94 million viewers and a 1.6/3, which topped the 1.0/2 and 1.64 million viewers for FOX. The CW averaged a 0.5/1 and 689,000 viewers.

8 p.m. - CBS' "NCIS" repeat averaged 9.74 million viewers to lead the 8 p.m. hour, coming in second with a 1.4 rating among adults 18-49. ABC's NBA overrun and the animated "Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas" averaged 7.39 million viewers and won the hour with a 2.6 key demo rating. NBC's broadcast of "Horton Hears a Who" averaged 3.22 million viewers and a 1.1 key demo rating, topping the 1.675 million viewers and 0.6 key demo rating for two episodes of "New Girl" on FOX. The CW's repeat of "Hart of Dixie" averaged 728,000 viewers and a 0.2 key demo rating.

9 p.m. - "NCIS: Los Angeles" held onto the overall lead for CBS with 8.59 million viewers and stayed second with a 1.4 rating among adults 18-49 in the 9 p.m. hour. ABC's "Grinch" feature averaged 4.46 million viewers and an hour-winning 1.7 key demo rating. NBC's "Horton Hears a Who" was out-Seussed with 3.08 million viewers and a 1.0 key demo rating in this. On FOX, two more repeats of "New Girl" averaged 1.61 million viewers and a 0.6 key demo rating. The CW's "Emily Owens, MD" averaged 651,000 viewers and a 0.1 key demo rating (including a zero key demo share).

10 p.m. - CBS stayed in first for the 10 p.m. hour with 6.03 million viewers for a "Vegas" repeat, staying second with a 1.1 key demo rating. ABC's movie was second with 4.46 million viewers and won the hour with a 1.7 key demo rating. NBC's latest reairing of Blake Shelton's Christmas special averaged 2.515 million viewers and a 0.7 key demo rating.

All ratings information comes from preliminary Fast National Nielsen data, which includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are subject to change, particularly in the case of live events.

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Daniel Fienberg
Executive Editor

A long-time member of the TCA Board and a longer-time blogger of "American Idol," Dan Fienberg writes about TV, except for when he writes about movies or sometimes writes about the Red Sox. But never music. He would sound stupid talking about music.