Fox’s ambitious new reality series Utopia kicked off the 2014 fall broadcast season with a decent showing against NBC’s Sunday Night Football, despite the fact that she show poses a unique set of challenges for the Fox marketing department.
Utopia averages 4.6 million viewers during its first two hours among adults 18-49, delivering a 1.9 rating. The premiere was helped by Fox’s own NFL programming, with the first football doubleheader of the season serving as a lead-in.
Fox could see a jump in numbers as time-shifting is factored in. And the network has structured the premiere as a three-night event, meaning more viewers could discover the program as the second and third episodes air later this week.
Sunday Night Football itself on NBC was down 12 percent in the adults 18-49 demographic from the 2013 kickoff, with an 8.0 Fast National rating.
Last night’s broadcast also marked the debut of NBC’s new opening sequence for Sunday Night Football, which once again features Carrie Underwood singing the “Waiting All Day For Sunday Night” anthem.
It’s the second year in a row that the reigning Princess of Country starred in a sequence that has previously seen Faith Hill and Pink belt out a modified version of Joan Jett’s “I Hate Myself for Loving You.”
Lead sponsor Verizon gets plenty or screen time as Underwood takes the stage at an outdoor concert filled with digital billboards, stage-diving NFL stars, and screaming fans holding signs with the #SNF hashtag.
Read More: The Hollywood Reporter
Brief Take: Now that the series has actually hit the air, Fox can use actual footage and competition developments to lure viewers to a new format that has posted decent, if not overwhelming, numbers in its opener.
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