I didn’t want to look it up either, but I was interested so I asked Copilot to look it up so we didn’t have to. NBC’s rating in the demo was not quite 10% of what it was in 2002, but it was still dramatically less, about 20%:
NBC’s total‑viewer average in 2001–02 was only about 2.1–2.3× higher than today but its 18–49 demo rating was about 5× higher. 1. Total viewers: ~2× difference • 2001–02 NBC primetime average: ~12–13 million • 2025–26 NBC primetime average: 5.83 million The decline in Absolute viewers is actually greater because of course there are more Americans now than they were in 2002. What looks like about a 51% decline viewership is more like a 61% decline after correcting for population growth. 2. 18–49 demo rating: ~5× difference • 2001–02 NBC 18–49 rating: ~5.0 • 2025–26 NBC 18–49 rating: 1.01 Sent from Gmail Mobile On Wed, May 20, 2026 at 12:02 PM Tom Wolper <[email protected]> wrote: > I’m not going to look up the numbers but I’m willing to bet it’s with one > tenth the audience of the Must See days on weekdays > > On Wed, May 20, 2026 at 2:47 PM 'Bob F' via TVorNotTV < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> Their total viewership will lead all nets for the first time since the >> days of "Must-See TV": >> >> https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/nbc-wins-2025-26-season-viewers-first-time-since-2002-1236601890/ >> (link) >> B >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "TVorNotTV" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To view this discussion visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/3969b09b-936b-4027-a871-e69ee6f4feb2n%40googlegroups.com >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/3969b09b-936b-4027-a871-e69ee6f4feb2n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAJE-FiHMgOR%2BOrxG8tMqFf46Eav_5x_JsO4dEkTrr2uVkfCxgg%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAJE-FiHMgOR%2BOrxG8tMqFf46Eav_5x_JsO4dEkTrr2uVkfCxgg%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKGtkYJ_FkaQM%2BhrOEaradWJxgQaFiLipBG1JDcSpN%2Bvw_Emig%40mail.gmail.com.
