TV Ratings: Disney's Divisive 'Olaf' Fares Better on ABC
'Thursday Night Football' hits a season low.
ABC had a bright spot on a competitive Thursday evening with its broadcast of holiday special Olaf's Frozen Adventure.
The short got an icy reception with theatergoers when it aired alongside recent weekend hit Coco. The 20-minute animated pic, front-loaded before the Pixar feature, drew criticism from many who did not like the long wait time for the movie to start. It fared much better on broadcast.
In any case, with a 1.4 rating among adults 18-49 and lacking any kind of lead-in, Olaf is among the best-performing holiday specials this December. It also averaged 5.7 million viewers — though it was dwarfed, in every measure, by CBS' The Big Bang Theory and NBC's coverage of Thursday Night Football.
Thursday Night Football ratings are still early, with no time zone-adjusted viewership stats, but its overnight rating marked a series low — and a steep drop from the week before. It averaged a 7.4 rating among households. Even with its dips, it will again win the night for the network.
The Big Bang Theory lost some steam in its fall finale, but topped all other entertainment telecasts for the night. It took a 2.6 rating among adults 18-49 and 13.6 million viewers. New episodes of Young Sheldon (2.0 adults), Mom (1.4 adults), Life in Pieces (1.1 adults) and SWAT (1.0 adults) followed.
The rest of the night was packed with specials, including Fox's Showtime at the Apollo and Taraji's White Hot Holidays, both of which took a 0.7 rating among adults 18-49. ABC also had back-to-back offerings of Great Christmas Light Fight (starring recently accused Carter Oosterhouse). It averaged a 0.8 and 0.6 ratings in the demo.
