‘Blindspot’, ‘Big Bang’, ‘Castle’ & ‘Gotham’ Lead Premiere Monday L3 Ratings Gains

The first Live+3 results for the 2015-16 season are in, underlining the continuous strength of delayed viewing and increased importance of VOD/streaming viewing for scripted series. On Premiere Monday, returning DVR MVPs like The Big Bang Theory and Gotham were joined by a new big performer, NBC’s Blindspot.

Following in the footsteps of its predecessor in the Monday 10 PM slot, The Blacklist, which broke a number of DVR records in its

freshman season, the series premiere of Blindspot grew by 1.34 adults 18-49 rating (+43%) and added 4.6 million viewers to log a 4.5 in 18-49 and 15.2 million viewers in Live+3 ratings. The demo jump was shy of the 1.8 rating last fall’s debut of Fox’s Gotham had on the night but it solidified Blindspot’s spot as the No.1 drama on Monday in 18-49 and lifted it to No.1 in total viewers. In L3, Blindspot edged its lead-in, The Voice (4.3, +21%; 14.4 million), the first time an NBC drama series or season premiere in the slot has managed to do that in both 18-49 and total viewers. The 4.5 demo number trails only two NBC l3 drama telecasts last season, the season premiere and post-Super Bowl episodes of The Blacklist (5, 9.8).

Also worth noting is the VOD portion of Blindspot‘s L3 gain, 0.25, as VOD will increasingly become a factor, especially for younger skewing shows. Last season, only a handful of NBC telecasts (Blacklist, Grimm) topped that number.

Fox also is providing multiplatform data for their shows. In DVR viewing, the Gotham Season 2 premiere rose by .9 (+57%) in 18-49 and added 2.2 million viewers to average 2.5 in the demo and 6.7 million viewers. In 18-49, the second season opener is still drawing half of the 18-49 rating for the series debut last fall, which was the case in Live+same day results. With streaming viewing added, the S2 premiere audience grew to 7.3 million.

A solid +56% DVR gain for Minority Report could not quite make up for the disappointing Live+same day premiere but made the show’s performance a little better. In DVR L3s, Minority Report‘s delivery was a 1.7 in 18-49 and 4.8 million viewers. It added another 400,000 viewers from streaming. (The 7.5 million multi-platform viewing number released by Fox today is irrelevant as it includes the premiere’s encore broadcast on Fox on Friday.)

CBS had a record L3 viewership lift, adding more than three million viewers to its nightly average on Premiere Monday (+3.08 million to 14.37 million, +27%).

As usual, the network was paced by The Big Bang Theory, which last year topped Premiere Week with the biggest L3 demo lift, +2.0 to a 7.4. The hit comedy was off its record pace a bit this time with a 1.7 gain to a 6.4 L3 in 18-49. Still, that was the biggest L3 gain on the night by a mile, and veteran Big Bang will likely finish second in 18-49 among all scripted series for the week in L3 only behind Fox’s Empire. And while in 18-49 Big Bang trailed last fall’s season premiere by -9% in L3, in total viewers the comedy actually matched its L3 delivery from last year (22.5 million)

Two veteran dramas that hit Live+same day series lows with underwhelming season premieres, ABC’s Castle and CBS’ NCIS: LA, closed a bit the large ratings drop from last fall’s debut with DVR gains. Castle posted the biggest percentage lift on Premiere Monday and its biggest ever for a season opener, +63%, with NCIS: LA close behind (+55). Both 10 PM dramas rose to a 1.9 18-49 rating. Their year-to-year declines now stand at -37% (Castle) and -30 (NCIS:LA) in L3.

Here is a chart of all Premiere Monday programs with their L3 gains in 18-49 and total viewers. L3 numbers for Premiere Tuesday, including the premiere of Scream Queens, will be available tomorrow.

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