By David Bauder, Media Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Television ratings for New Year’s Eve celebrations took a tumble this year — and you can probably partly blame the weather.
Contrary to what the soggy celebrants in New York’s Times Square might think, it is because of good weather. Last year’s ABC’s “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” had its biggest audience since at least 1991 with much of the country locked in a deep freeze and potential partygoers wanting to stay home and keep warm.
This year, viewership for ABC’s primetime New Year’s show with Ryan Seacrest averaged 9.1 million people, down 26 percent from last year’s 12.3 million, the Nielsen company said. Fox’s primetime show with Steve Harvey was down 47 percent to 3.1 million people, although last year’s numbers were inflated because Harvey came on directly after an NFL game.
Nielsen did not immediately have viewership numbers for late-night coverage when the ball dropped at midnight to signify the arrival of 2019. But in a preliminary sampling of the nation’s largest television markets showed similar declines to earlier in the evening. ABC’s late-night coverage was down 27 percent from the previous year, while Fox was down 22 percent, Nielsen said.
NBC’s primetime New Year’s Eve program with Carson Daly and Chrissy Teigen was seen by 4.8 million people. The network didn’t have similar programming last year.
Sports dominated an otherwise quiet week in television, with ESPN’s primetime ratings topping all of the broadcast networks. The college football playoff semifinals were the most popular programs, led by the 18.5 million people who watched Alabama beat Oklahoma.
For the week, NBC averaged 5.2 million viewers in primetime. CBS had 4.6 million, ABC had 3.2 million, Fox had 2.9 million, ION Television had 1.3 million, Univision had 1.1 million, Telemundo had 960,000 and the CW had 680,000.
ESPN’s audience topped all of the broadcast and cable networks, with a 5.73 primetime average. The other top cable networks were Hallmark with 1.95 million, USA with 1.28 million, Fox News Channel with 1.24 million and HGTV with 1.18 million.
ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 8.8 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 8 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 6 million.
Below are primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Dec. 24-30. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.
1. College Football Playoff: Oklahoma vs. Alabama, ESPN, 18.49 million.
2. College Football Playoff: Notre Dame vs. Clemson, ESPN, 16.28 million.
3. “Orange Bowl Pregame,” ESPN, 16.23 million.
4. “Orange Bowl Postgame,” ESPN, 16.07 million.
5. NFL Football: Indianapolis at Tennessee, NBC, 16.05 million.
6. “Cotton Bowl Postgame, ESPN, 15.15 million.
7. “NFL Pregame,” NBC, 11.54 million.
8. “The OT,” Fox, 9.58 million.
9. “Football Night in America,” NBC, 8.98 million.
10. NFL Football: Denver at Oakland, ESPN, 8.71 million.
11. NBA Basketball: L.A. Lakers at Golden State, ABC, 7.99 million.
12. “The Orville,” Fox, 5.68 million.
13. College Football: Iowa St. vs. Washington St., ESPN, 5.66 million.
14. College Football: West Virginia vs. Syracuse, ESPN, 4.88 million.
15. “America’s Funniest Home Videos” (Sunday, 8 p.m.), ABC, 4.55 million.
16. “Chicago PD,” NBC, 4.47 million.
17. Movie: “It’s a Wonderful Life,” NBC, 4.41 million.
18. “Chicago Med,” NBC, 4.35 million.
19. “Chicago Fire,” NBC, 4.05 million.
20. “America’s Funniest Home Videos” (Sunday, 9 p.m.), ABC, 3.96 million.
ABC and ESPN are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; CBS is a division of CBS Corp.; Fox is owned by 21st Century Fox; NBC is owned by NBC Universal.
Eleanor Adds Director Candice Vernon To Its Roster For Spots and Branded Content
Director Candice Vernon has joined production house Eleanor for U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content. She has already wrapped several jobs at Eleanor, which waited to announce her until they had a body of work together.
Via Eleanor, Vernon made history as the first Black director on a Febreze commercial. The “Small Spaces” campaign marks a major departure from Febreze’s typical blue-and-white world. The home of the “Revolving Door” commercial is a beautiful array of bold sunset hues, African prints, and African art.
Vernon said, “I asked myself, what feels right to me? What feels new? I wanted to bring an essence of not just Black Americans but the full diaspora. I wanted to make a statement that we’re not a monolith.”
Following the success of the “Small Spaces” campaign, Febreze brought Vernon back for a comedy-infused trifecta exploring the hilarious situations that call for an air freshening hero.
Febreze Brand VP Angelica Matthews said, “About two years ago, we realized the consumers that were the most loyal to Febreze were the African American consumers. And the more we learned, the more we realized the richness that we were really missing. So we said we have to go beyond just Black casting, we need to get Black directors that truly understand the culture that truly understand how to bring authentic performances out on screen. We really looked around the industry and noticed there’s actually a shortage of African American directors who have experience doing commercials. When we all saw Candice’s reel, we could all tell the passion for the craft, passion for really trying to help us from where we are to where we’re trying to go.”
Vernon brings a unique lens to... Read More