NBC, under the guidance of NBC Entertainment Chair Bob Greenblatt, has created a holiday tradition of airing live musicals, starting with The Sound of Music Live! in 2013.

Wednesday night’s entry, Hairspray Live!, fell 25 percent in households to a 5.9 rating from last year’s entry, The Wiz Live!, and matched Peter Pan Live! in 2014 among adults 18-49.

Early ratings show that Hairspray Live! attracted 8.9 million viewers and a 2.3 rating among adults 18-49, the franchise’s lowest performance yet among total viewers. Of course, Hairspray Live! ratings will likely go up in the live-plus-three-day ratings once DVR and other views are included.

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Last year’s The Wiz averaged 11.5 million viewers and a 3.4 among adults 18-49. Peter Pan, starring Alison Williams, averaged 9.2 million viewers and a 2.3 among adults 18-49. NBC’s first live musical, The Sound of Music Live! starring Carrie Underwood, turned in by far the best numbers, averaging 18.3 million viewers and a 4.6 among adults 18-49.

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Changes that could have pushed the ratings down are first, that the program aired on a Wednesday this year instead of a Thursday like the other three editions. NBC is in the middle of its Thursday Night Football run, forcing the scheduling change.

In addition, Fox has jumped on the musical and live programming special-event trend, airing such programs as The Passion last Easter, Grease Live! in January and the non-live Rocky Horror Picture Show before Halloween. Of those, Grease Live!, starring Aaron Tveit and Julianne Hough as Danny and Sandy, turned in the strongest performance with 12.2 million viewers and a 4.3 rating in the key demo.

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Live performances are seen as a way to draw viewers to programs—and their advertisements—while they are actually airing instead of putting them off to watch later. NBC’s next effort in this space is a live performance of Aaron Sorkin’s play A Few Good Men. Next December, NBC plans a revival of Bye Bye Birdie starring Jennifer Lopez.

READ MORE: The Hollywood Reporter

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