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This year’s installment of the Billboard Music Awards saw viewership jump 10 percent, ranking as the ABC kudos’ most-watched telecast in 13 years.
An average 10.5 million viewers tuned into the three-hour live telecast. And among adults 18-49, the show topped broadcast fare for the night by holding steady with last year’s 3.5 rating in the key demo. ABC ranked No. 1 for the night by both counts, with a lead-in from the season finale of America’s Funniest Home Videos (1.6 adults).
PHOTOS: The Best Moments of the Billboard Music Awards
The BBMAs reached the biggest audience between 9 and 9:30 p.m., when 11.5 million viewers tuned in. That half-hour saw the much-tweeted-about performance by a hologram of the late Michael Jackson.
Billboard, producers Dick Clark Productions and The Hollywood Reporter are both owned by affiliates of Guggenheim Partners.
CBS was the closest rival in both viewers and adults 18-49. The network aired season finales of The Amazing Race (1.7 adults), The Good Wife (1.2 adults) and The Mentalist (1.5 adults) — the latter jumping three-tenths of a point after its steady lead-ins.
It was a largely even night all around. Bob’s Burgers (0.9 adults), American Dad (1.2 adults), The Simpsons (1.6 adults), Family Guy (2.0 adults) and Cosmos (1.1 adults) all held steady on Fox.
NBC aired the special to Coldplay: Ghost Stories to a very soft 0.4 rating in the key demo, matching lead-out American Dream Builders.
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