Tuesday 01/03/12 – Coverage of ESPN's Sugar Bowl Wins the Night, Soft Debut for ABC's Work It

ESPN's coverage of the 2012 Sugar Bowl (3.31 Live A18-49 Rating) between Michigan and Virginia Tech was the highest rated program with A18-49, fueling the network to average the evening's largest A18-49 audience.

CBS returned with a full original schedule following a three week hiatus, capturing a broadcast win with A18-49 Tuesday night. NCIS (3.19 A18-49 Rtg), NCIS: LA (2.92) and Unforgettable (2.34) all posted double-digit percentage growth from their prior originals on 12/13/11, with NCIS drawing the largest A18-49 broadcast audience of the night.

Despite the network edging past ABC to earn a second place finish across broadcast, NBC's 13th season premiere of The Biggest Loser (1.90) experienced a significant decline (-31%) among A18-49 from its season 11 opener a YAG, leading into Parenthood at 10pm (1.38), which was down 20% from its last original airing on 11/29/11.

ABC finished behind NBC with the 8:30pm series premiere of Work It (1.69) delivering a 19% smaller A18-49 audience than the debut of Man Up! on 10/18/11. Its lead-in, Last Man Standing (1.84), grew 6% with A18-49 from its prior original on 12/13/11, while at 9pm, the time-slot premiere of Celebrity Wife Swap (1.85) lost 12% of its audience from its debut on Monday. Rounding out the night for ABC, Body of Proof (1.29) retained all of its A18-49 viewership after a four week hiatus, but still finished in last place at 10pm.

Both FOX and The CW continued with their repeat lineups this week, as FOX featured episodes of Glee at 8pm (0.81) New Girl at 9pm (1.22) and Raising Hope (0.88) at 9:30pm, while The CW went with back-to-back airings of The Secret Circle (0.37, 0.28), landing the network's fourth and fifth, respectively, with A18-49 among the Big 5 broadcast networks.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.