‘American’s Got Talent,’ ‘Voice’ top primetime

NBC talent shows trumped all Wednesday, with the Peacock coasting to a primetime ratings victory on a night skewed at the outset by President Obama’s address to the nation.

Back-to-back episodes of “America’s Got Talent” topped the night among overall viewers and those 18-49, followed in the ratings by lead-in “The Voice,” as NBC won all three hours of primetime. Next most popular on the night was Gold Cup soccer coverage on Univision.

According to preliminary nationals from Nielsen, “Talent” peaked at 9 p.m. (3.8 rating/11 share in 18-49, 12.8 million viewers overall), then dropped slightly at 10 p.m. (3.2/9, 11.5 million). “The Voice” (2.9/9, 9.0 million), whose start was pushed by approximately 15 minutes in Eastern markets by the president’s speech, topped the 8 p.m. hour.

Univision’s nightlong soccer coverage, which bridged matches between Panama vs. the U.S. and Honduras vs. Mexico, stayed in the mid-2s in the demo with more than 5 million overall viewers.

Fox’s two-hour “So You Think You Can Dance” (2.0/6, 5.7 million) was a solid second among the English-language broadcasters.

The night’s top-rated scripted program was ABC’s 9 p.m. comedy “Modern Family” (1.6/5, 4.5 million), which topped CBS’ “Criminal Minds” (1.3/4, 6.5 million) in the demo. “Happy Endings” (1.1/3, 2.9 million) shed roughly a third of the “Modern” lead-in at 9:30 p.m.

At 10 p.m., ABC’s premiere of “Primetime Nightline: Beyond Belief” (1.3/4, 4.8 million) beat out CBS’ “Blue Bloods” (1.0/3, 5.8 million) to avoid last place in the hour.

ABC’s 8 p.m. programming consisted of two episodes of “The Middle” (1.1/3, 4.4 million on average), which finished ahead of the first of two segments of the CW’s “America’s Next Top Model.”

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: NBC 3.3/10, Univision 2.6/8, Fox 2.0/6, ABC 1.2/4, CBS 1.1/3, CW 0.4/1.

In total viewers: NBC 11.1 million, Fox 5.7 million, CBS 5.6 million, Univision 5.4 million, ABC 4.3 million, CW 0.9 million.

Source: Variety