ABC’s telecast of the “Billboard Music Awards,” broadcast live across the entire country for the first time, dominated Sunday’s broadcast ratings action but lost a bit of steam from last year’s 14-year highs.
The kudocast certainly had plenty of high-profile cable competition last night, including Game 3 of the NBA’s Western Conference Finals between the Golden State Warriors and Oklahoma City Thunder, which did a big 5.7 household rating/9 share in Nielsen’s metered-market overnights on TNT from 8 to 10:30 p.m. ET — even though it was a lopsided contest. HBO’s “Game of Thrones” (4.6/7) and AMC’s season finale of “Fear the Walking Dead” (2.7/4) were among the night’s other top-flight draws.
Looking at preliminary national estimates from Nielsen that are adjusted for time zone differences, the “2016 Billboard Music Awards” averaged a 3.1 rating in adults 18-49 and 9.6 million viewers overall. The top markets for the “2016 Billboard Music Awards” were from cities in the Central and Eastern time zones: Atlanta (9.9 household rating/16 share), Richmond (9.8/14), Philadelphia (8.9/14), Chicago (8.5/14) and Minneapolis and West Palm Beach (both 8.2/12).
The show had grown a bit in recent years, but last night’s “Billboard Music Awards” still stands as the third most-watched since ABC began airing it in 2011. It was down from last year by 18% in 18-49 rating (3.1 vs. 3.7) and by 14% in total viewers (9.6 million vs. 11.2 million).
Fox was runner-up among the broadcasters for the night in adults 18-49, led by season finales of animated comedies “Family Guy” (1.2/4 in 18-49, 2.6 million viewers overall), “The Simpsons” (1.0/4 in 18-49, 2.5 million viewers overall) and “Bob’s Burgers” (0.9/3 in 18-49, 2.1 million viewers overall). Kicking off the night, the series finale of “Bordertown” did a 0.5/2 in the demo and 1.2 million total viewers.