TV Ratings: ‘Kennedy Center Honors’ Hit Three-Year Viewership High

By Will Thorne

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – CBS’ annual broadcast of the “Kennedy Center Honors” drew a three-year viewership high in the Sunday night .

The special was watched by just under 7 million total viewers, up around 500,000 from last year and almost 1 million from 2017. However, ratings-wise the honors show, which this year featured performances from the likes of the Jonas Brothers, equalled its lowest ever performance with a 0.6 among adults 18-49.

“60 Minutes” kicked things off on with a 0.8 rating and 8.3 million viewers, while a rerun of “NCIS: Los Angeles” came in at a 0.3 and 3.8 million viewers in the 10 p.m. time slot.

Elsewhere, “Sunday Night Football” on NBC featured a tense game between two play-off chasing teams in the Buffalo Bills and the Pittsburgh Steelers. The game ticked up in the preliminary fast national numbers from last week, averaging 15.8 million total viewers. As ever, those numbers are subject to significant adjustment later in the day given the nature of live sports.

ABC’s annual “Sound of Music” airing drew just over 4 million viewers and a 0.6, down a fraction on last year’s 4.2 million and 0.7 rating.

Fox’s Animation Domination lineup benefited once again from an NFL over-run, with “The Simpsons” coming in at a 1.8 rating and 5 million total viewers. Next came “Bless the Harts” with a 0.9 and 2.8 million pairs of eyeballs, while “Bob’s Burgers” and “Family Guy” both registered a 0.9 rating and just under 2.5 million total viewers.

Finally on the CW, the network’s “Christmas Caroler Challenge” wasn’t all that merry, singing a little off-pitch to the tune of 0.1 rating and an average viewership of 500,000.