The “Megyn Kelly Presents” interview with Donald Trump was supposed to be the biggest television event Tuesday night, but it couldn’t muster the ratings to beat CBS’ “NCIS.”
Not only did the long-running drama’s season finale beat the highly anticipated showdown between Trump and Kelly, but it beat out all the shows airing on Fox, ABC and NBC at 8 p.m. combined.
“NCIS” averaged a 2.5 rating/9 share with adults 18-49 and had 17.6 million viewers overall, according to Nielsen ratings, as reported by Variety.
The show had its best viewership since early January, reportedly adding 1.6 million viewers from last week’s haul. That was probably due to it being a season finale and featuring the exit of cast member Michael Weatherly after 13 seasons of solving naval-based crimes.
“Megyn Kelly Presents” averaged a 0.8 rating/3 share in adults 18-49 and 4.7 million viewers.
Though Trump and Kelly’s combined star power couldn’t beat “NCIS,” it did pull in higher ratings than an average Fox Tuesday night, and it was the second-biggest Fox broadcast of 2016 behind the “American Idol” series finale in April.
Nielsen Social did have Fox’s special event as the second-most tweeted television show of the night, behind NBC’s “The Voice.”
NBC, ABC and the CW put up their regularly scheduled programming of “The Voice,” sitcoms “Fresh off the Boat and “The Real O’Neals” and “The Flash” against Fox’s stunt and CBS’ procedural juggernaut.
