The Grammy Awards posted its second biggest audience in 20 years.
The 55th annual ceremony, held at L.A. Live's Staples Center, didn't attract record numbers like last year's telecast -- which drew nearly 40 million viewers, the most-watched telecast since 1984 -- due to interest following Whitney Houston's death. But, the three-and-half hour awards show, hosted by NCIS: LA's LL Cool J and performances from Rihanna, Justin Timberlake and Taylor Swift, averaged 28.1 million from 8-11:30 p.m., the second largest audience for the Grammys since 1993 (behind, obviously last year).
The Grammys, which counted The Black Keys, fun., Mumford & Sons and Gotye as big winners on the evening, matched its best adults 18-49 demo (10 rating) in two years and posted its second best 25-54 demo (11.1) since 2004. According to fast nationals in primetime, Grammy viewership peaked during the 9-9:30 p.m. half hour (31.1 million).
With 60 Minutes (11.1 million, 1.9) leading into the Grammys at 7 p.m., this easily put CBS at the top of the heap during Sunday primetime with an 8.2 adults 18-49 average.
Fox placed second, with mostly originals of its animation comedy block averaging a 1.8. Following a repeat of Bob's Burger's (2.2 million, 1.0), nearly all of its counter-Grammy programming efforts saw dips, with the exception of The Cleveland Show (2.7 million, 1.3), up 8 percent. The Simpsons (4.3 million, 2.1), Bob's Burgers (3.4 million, 1.8), Family Guy (4.6 million, 2.4) and American Dad (3.8 million, 2.0) were all down.
ABC was third with a 1.5 demo average. America's Funniest Home Videos (7.3 million, 1.8) jumped 38 percent from its last original in late January, while fairy tale drama Once Upon a Time (7 million, 2.2) dropped to a new series low, as did Revenge (5.1 million, 1.4). An ABC News special, Revenge for Real (2.9 million, 0.8) followed at 10 p.m.
NBC was fourth on the evening with a 0.8, with Dateline (5.7 million, 1.2), a repeat of Betty White's birthday special (3.1 million, 0.6) and a Saturday Night Live special (2.6 million, 0.8).
E-mail: Philiana.Ng@thr.com
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