After generating acceptable numbers for the Wednesday premiere of “Hellcats,” The CW received another dose of mildly positive ratings news Thursday.
New series “Nikita,” far and away the more buzzed-about of the network’s new offerings, premiered to 3.57 million viewers and a 1.4 adults 18-49 rating. While that represents only a minor improvement from the season premiere of last year’s timeslot occupant “Supernatural,” it is worth noting that “Nikita” received a far less admirable lead-in from “The Vampire Diaries.”
“Diaries,” the only effective launch for The CW last year, declined significantly from last season’s premiere, starting season two with only 3.35 million viewers and a 1.6 adults 18-49 rating. While the demo rating is solid in comparison to the show’s average from last season and still certain to be better than anything else on the network, it represents a big decrease from last season’s 4.9 million viewers and 2.1 rating.
It is not clear how much the female-skewing CW programming would have been affected, but competition from the NFL regular season kickoff on NBC was fierce. According to very rough fast national data, the Saints-Vikings game did at least 24.38 million viewers with a 9.5 adults 18-49 rating.
