NBC’s “The Restaurant” scored its highest numbers yet last night, winning the Sunday, 10-11 PM ET hour in virtually all key categories and matching or beating its competition combined in several demographics. With Sunday night’s highest adult 18-49 rating on any network, “The Restaurant” led NBC to a tie for the nightlong victory, the fifth time in six weeks NBC has earned at least a share of the Sunday lead.
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According to preliminary “fast affiliate-based” in-home viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research, “The Restaurant” (4.0 rating, 11 share among adults 18-49, 8.2 million viewers overall) built on its 18-49 lead-in from the hit drama “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” by a spectacular 33 percent, the biggest “Restaurant” build to date. “The Restaurant” generated an impressive five week streak of steady progress relative to its lead-in, going from an 11 percent dropoff versus its lead-in with its premiere telecast, to a 5 percent dropoff in week two, to a 9 percent build in week three, to a 13 percent build in week four, to a 33 percent build in week five.
The 4.0 rating in 18-49 is NBC’s highest in the hour this summer and beats all slot results from last summer except for the Emmy Awards and the NBA Playoffs.
Last night’s telecast won the hour by a 67 percent margin over ABC’s second-place movie in 18-49. Summer-to-date, “The Restaurant” is up by 13 percent over NBC’s 18-49 slot results for the same nights last year.
“The Restaurant” equaled or beat its combined competition last night among adults, men and women 18-34 and women 18-49.