The Season 2 finale of This Is Us helped NBC cruise to a Tuesday demo win in the Nielsen overnight ratings.
NBC kicked off the night with a new episode of The Voice, which averaged a 2.2 rating in adults 18-49 and 10.99 million viewers. This Is Us followed at 9 with a 2.7 and 10.9 million viewers, up around 20% in both measures from last week’s episode. It was the top-rated show of the night and hit multi-week highs. However, it was down from the Season 1 finale, which drew a 3.4 and 12.8 million viewers last March for a decline of approximately 20% in the demo and 15% in total viewers.
Nevertheless, NBC’s winning streak for the night continued at 10 p.m., where the series premiere of the drama Rise averaged a solid 1.3 and 5.7 million viewers. That was good enough to top the series premiere of Shondaland legal drama For the People on ABC, which drew only a 0.8 and 3.3 million viewers in the timeslot. It should be noted, though, that Rise only retained around 50% of the “This Is Us” finale audience, so the true test of its staying power will be next week.
