TV Ratings: Miss America Pageant Suffers Against Packers-Bears Nailbiter

By Joe Otterson

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – This year’s televised Miss America pageant saw a significant drop off in the ratings compared to last year, according to Nielsen overnight data from Sunday.

The pageant drew a 0.7 rating in adults 18-49 and 4.3 million viewers, airing from 9-11 p.m. on ABC. That is down approximately 36% in the key demo and 19% in total viewers compared to the 1.1 and 5.4 million viewers the pageant drew last year.

The pageant no doubt suffered due to airing against the matchup between the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers, which saw the Packers rally in the fourth quarter to win by one point. The game is currently at a 6.0 rating and 18.9 million viewers, though those numbers will be subject to adjustment later today. In metered market households, it drew a 14.4 rating, the best such rating for any primetime show since March.

Fox also debuted the new comedy “” in the post-NFL timeslot like they did for “The Orville” last season. “Rel” opened well, currently at a 1.9 rating and 5.5 million viewers. Fox also says the show drew approximately 500,000 viewers between Twitter, Hulu, YouTube, Fox Now, and On-Demand after they released the episode early last Thursday.

On CBS, “Big Brother” is currently at a 1.5 and 5.7 million viewers, up in both measures from last week.