Shaquille O’Neal assisted in producing a nice viewership boost when he guested on RAW last month, but the premiere of his own show was far from a hit Tuesday.
With just 4.3 million viewers, ABC’s “Shaq Vs.” posted a 2.7 fast national household rating and a mere 1.7 in the coveted adults 18-49 demographic. That meant the heavily-hyped debut of his new sports series aired for fewer viewers than his episode of RAW.
Slightly lessening the blow is the fact that lead-in “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” has been performing below expectations since returning for its limited run. Tuesday’s episode did 6.3 million viewers with a 4.1 household rating and a 1.4 adults 18-49 number. But, because the shows have target different demographics–“Millionaire” does well with older women while “Shaq Vs.” looked to reach young men–the success of “Shaq Vs.” was not entirely dependent on the “Millionaire” lead-in. It was expected to create its own audience.
In its ratings press release, ABC nonetheless touted the show as a success, noting that it did the timeslot’s best summer numbers in over a year. It also acknowledged the show’s 18-49 viewership growth throughout the hour (which, while never a negative, was inevitable given the fact that the “competition” portion of the show did not happen until the last twenty minutes).
Leading the night were NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” (11.6 million viewers, 6.95 household, 3.0 adults 18-49) and FOX’s “Hell’s Kitchen” (7.3 million viewers, 4.1 household, 3.4 adults 18-49).
