RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘The Bachelorette’ Finale Down From Last Year, Bear Grylls On Par In Return

ABC’s The Bachelorette ended its season on a high note — a proposal and a 1.9 rating among adults 18-49 for the two-hour finale, up a tenth from last week and the best demo result since the season premiere. (In total viewers, the reality series closed out its cycle with a season high 7.5 million viewers). But vs. last summer’s finale, The Bachelorette was down 27% to log the series’ lowest rated finale in Live+same day 18-49 ratings. At 10 PM, The Bachelorette: After the Final Rose special (2.1) built onto its lead-in but too was down from last year, (-16%) to rank as the lowest rated After the Rose special in Live + Same Day. Despite facing the After the Rose special, CBS’ Under the Dome (1.5) held steady, even with last Monday.
On NBC, adventurer Edward Michael “Bear” Grylls was back with a new summer reality series. Running Wild with Bear Grylls opened with a 1.4, down a tenth from last summer’s debut of Get Out Alive with Bear Grylls, also on NBC. The bar is pretty low, but this qualifies as the second highest reality series debut this summer, only behind ABC’s Rising Star (1.5). Baer Grylls helped lead-out American Ninja Warrior (2.1), which shot up 11% from last week. On the CW,  the 2014 Young ... Read More »

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