The Country Music Awards returned to Wednesday and saw a significant boost over the previous year's numbers since Wednesday nights tend to be weaker than Thursdays. Meanwhile, X-Factor's numbers dropped in competition with the music awards program.
ABC managed to win in both total viewers and the key 18-49 demographic for Wednesday night, HitFix reports. The network averaged 16.63 million viewers and a 4.7 rating in the demo. As the CMA's were ABC's only show for the evening, the numbers the network averaged were all thanks to the awards show.
CBS came in second with a distant average of 9.255 million viewers and a 2.2 in the demo. Survivor: Blood vs. Water was actually up for the night with a 2.5 rating. Criminal Minds tied a series low with its demo rating at 2.4. Similarly, CSI tied its series low at a 1.7 in the key demo.
Fox placed in third for the evening with only an average of a 4.51 million viewers and a 1.5 in the key demo, The Hollywood Reporter notes. The network only had X-Factor for the evening, which did poorly against the CMA Awards and was at a low.
NBC barely topped Fox in total viewers with an average of 5.1 million, but only had a 1.3 in the key demo. Revolution stayed evening with a 1.4 demo, similar to the last month. Law & Order ticked upward slightly to a 1.5 in the demo. A Dateline special garnered a 1.1 in the demo.
The CW averaged 2.2 million and a 0.8 rating for Wednesday night between the network's two shows. Arrow was up to a 1.0 and The Tomorrow People stayed at a 0.8 rating.
image: ABC