Fox certainly had a peachy keen Sunday night, with its live musical event Grease Live shattering all critical and audience expectations and positively taking over social media during the show’s airing across both coasts.
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“That was the best moment of my life.” - @juliannehough #GreaseLive https://t.co/BP8jpKlyHu
— GREASE: LIVE (@GoGrease) February 1, 2016
From 7 to 10 p.m. last night, Fox ranked number one in adults 18-49, number one in adults 18-34, number one in total viewers, and number one among Teens. The network demolished its combined broadcast competition last night by 48% in adults 18-49 (4.3 vs. 2.9 for ABC/CBS/NBC).
And at that moment, the WB lot was the greatest place to be in the world. gogrease #GreaseLive https://t.co/HxMWyDA85E
— Darren Criss (@DarrenCriss) February 1, 2016
No matter how you look at it, the ratings look like a beautiful blond pineapple. Grease Live scored a 4.3/13 in same-day ratings, up 26% from NBC’s The Wiz Live and 79% from Peter Pan Live, in Adults 18-49.
The show was up 6% (12.2 mil vs 11.5 mil) from The Wiz Live and up 32% from Peter Pan Live in total viewers (12.2 million vs 9.2 million).
WHY IS IT OVER WHY WHY #GreaseLive pic.twitter.com/IxxrBi77VC
— Geek & Sundry (@GeekandSundry) February 1, 2016
The show proved to draw young folk like greased lightning to their TV screens, which in turn is like catnip for advertisers.
Grease Live was up 48% in adults 18-34 and up 68% in teens compared to The Wiz Live and up 85% in adults 18-34 and +131%, respectively, vs. Peter Pan Live.
In both adults 18-34 and teens, Grease Live drew a 3.7 rating. Grease Live out-rated NBC’s The Sound of Music by 23% among teens (numbers provided by Fox in an official statement).
The entire show, as well as highlights, is now available on FoxNow’s On Demand platform. Fox projects a 5.2 18-49 Live + 3 Day, and a 5.4 Live + 7 Day, with a total platform audience of 15.5 million (+27% vs. L+SD).
Seriously, I’ve never seen anything like it - my ENITRE feed is filled with (MUCH deserved) praise for @GoGrease - history was made tonight!
— Royce Christyn (@ChristynRoyce) February 1, 2016
It was impossible to avoid Grease buzz on Twitter (@GoGrease). According to Fox, 358,500 people sent 1.2 million tweets about Grease Live during the show and those tweets were seen 162.2 million times, trending for thirteen hours from 11 AM until 1 AM PT the next day.
Everyone was incredible tonight. Well done @juliannehough @VanessaHudgens @AaronTveit the whole cast and the CREW! #GreaseLive
— Anna Kendrick (@AnnaKendrick47) February 1, 2016
The internet truly exploded for the show’s high watermark moment, at 8:31 pm ET, with 9,350 tweets after Boyz II Men showed up to sing “Beauty School Dropout.”
I didn’t watch #GreaseLive. according to Twitter, I’m the only one.
— Katie Aselton (@duplaselton) February 1, 2016
According to Nielsen (reported via Fox), Grease Live is the #1 most viral Special Live Musical Event ever, beating out NBC’s triumvirate of Wiz Live, Sound of Music Live and Peter Pan Live, thanks to its higher number of unique authors, unique audience and impressions.
Still flying! @GoGrease pic.twitter.com/jXN6dH3IDd
— Carly Rae Jepsen (@carlyraejepsen) February 1, 2016
Fox was similarly active on Facebook, with 2.1 million plus views of 13 backstage live Facebook videos, hosted by Mario Lopez and Ellen’s Jeannie Klisiewicz.
Perhaps the buzziest use of social media came when stars Vanessa Hudgens, Carlos PenaVega and later Keke Palmer live-snapped DURING the show. This helped net 2 million views on yesterday’s story thus far, proving the social network’s viability for broadcast TV.
#GreaseLive is the word and you can watch your favorite clips right NOW: https://t.co/iLlbGhX70B pic.twitter.com/wCokZ4zJUH
— GREASE: LIVE (@GoGrease) February 1, 2016
The network continued its partnership with the gif-maker site Giphy, creating shareable gif’s throughout the telecast.
Thanks to @GIPHY for all the GIF coverage of #GreaseLive! https://t.co/4ttmN5HgbD pic.twitter.com/sP9MrnPjIP
— GREASE: LIVE (@GoGrease) February 1, 2016
The fun doesn’t stop, with the event’s soundtrack now available to stream.
Ok that was AWESOME. #GreaseLive: https://t.co/AAQgBWG6kH pic.twitter.com/UqM51xFgeg
— Apple Music (@AppleMusic) February 1, 2016
The Grease Live soundtrack is already the best-selling musical on Amazon, ranking sixth overall in Movies & TV on Amazon.
The soundtrack led iTunes’ soundtrack genre on iTunes even before it aired on the East Coast, and it’s still leading the pack this morning.
After the West Coast airing of the event, the album was ranked in iTunes’ top-five albums overall, regardless of genre, with all 16 individual tracks making their way in iTunes’ top 100.
Grease is STILL the word on Twitter and beyond, with reviews and reactions universally glowing, and the network receiving high marks for its tasteful handing of the passing of star Hudgens’ father, and Vanessa Hudgens’ own fearless performance.
#GreaseLive pays touching tribute to Vanessa Hudgens’ dad Greg Hudgens: https://t.co/W4AMaYhMoD pic.twitter.com/pch5niobno
— E! Online (@eonline) February 1, 2016
Brief Take: Grease Live is a huge win for Fox and for network TV, and proof that live musical event TV is here to stay. It’s the only realm that Netflix, Amazon and other streaming platforms can’t breach. Let the time warp begin.
Hearing so many great things about #GreaseLive and just realized it was the first moment in over a year where I’m bummed I only have Netflix
— Taryn Southern (@TarynSouthern) February 1, 2016
[Cube image courtesy of Fox via Variety]
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