Early estimates from Nielsen have last night’s American Music Awards on ABC drawing 14.2 million viewers over three hours, an increase of 2.0 million viewers over last year and the award show’s highest viewership since 2002. But even with those kind of numbers (and controversial performances from the likes of American Idol alum Adam Lambert), the AMAs did not prevail with an overall win for the evening: The champ, in terms of ratings at least, was CBS’ stalwart newsmagazine 60 Minutes, which attracted 18.4 million viewers in the 7 p.m hour. And, in fact, the AMAs didn’t even come in second—no, usual Sunday-night ratings champion Sunday Night Football, which saw the Philadelphia Eages beat the Chicago Bears, nabbed a just-above-the-AMAs 14.6 million viewers to take second place.
As for the overall battle between the networks, NBC was tops there, drawing an average of 12.9 million viewers, while CBS was next with 12.7 million, followed by ABC with 12.1 million.
| Time | Show | Viewers (in millions) |
|---|---|---|
| 7 p.m. | 60 Minutes (CBS) Football Night in America (NBC) America’s Funniest Home Videos (ABC) Brothers (Fox) |
18.4 7.9 6.1 (repeat) 2.6 |
| 7:30 p.m. | The Simpsons (Fox) | 4.0 (repeat) |
| 8 p.m. | Sunday Night Football (NBC) 2009 American Music Awards (ABC) The Amazing Race XV (CBS) The Simpsons (Fox) |
14.6 14.2 13.5 7.0 |
| 8:30 p.m. | The Cleveland Show (Fox) | 6.5 |
| 9 p.m. | Three Rivers (CBS) Family Guy (Fox) |
10.3 7.4 |
| 9:30 p.m. | American Dad (Fox) | 5.5 |
| 10 p.m. | Cold Case (CBS) | 8.5 |
Source: Nielsen
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I’m just glad football beat the AMA’s the show sucked. I am surprised about the Cleveland Show it goes up then down then up then down.
Cold Case was on at 9p not 10p yesterday.
Yeah, my family was upset over it because they didnt know til it was almost over.
There was a half-hour football overrun on CBS from 7-7.30pm. Hence the inflated 60 Minutes number.
Actually Cold Case got 10.3 and Three Rivers got 8.5
I was channel surfing last night. The AMA’s had a few good performances, but I would sneak over to FOX and check out the ‘toons. I don’t know what to think of the Cleveland Show. I wanna like it, but I can’t bring myself to do so.
What the hell is “Brothers?”
Some sitcom but I’m wondering why it hasn’t been cancelled yet!
It’s a sitcom on Fox…it’s pretty funny but I’ve only seen it a few times since I never know when it’s on, they keep moving it around.