In the key demo of adults 18-49, the live musical scored a 3.4 rating, which is almost triple NBC’s season average rating on Thursday nights (excluding sports) and beat “Peter Pan” (2.4) by 42 percent. The event also set a Nielsen Twitter record as most social live special program in the more than four years of tracking such numbers – generating more reactions than NBC’s two prior musicals combined.
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Even so, “Wiz Live!” delivered a strong enough performance to probably ensure future live-musical telecasts on NBC.
The production more than doubled NBC’s typical audience for a Thursday night despite CBS airing a down-to-the-wire National Football League game as competition. Queen Latifah starred in the title role, with a cast that included Mary J. Blige, David Alan Grier and Ne-Yo. However, this result is still down on Carrie Underwood’s The Sound of Music Live! in 2013, which drew a massive 18.5 million viewers overall.
The viewership number was also better than NBC’s live musical past year “Peter Pan Live!” which brought in 9.2 million viewers.
TiVo said the show’s top moment for people rewinding and watching again came when the Munchkins told Dorothy to “follow the yellow-brick road”.
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“NBC Slays in Ratings With “The Wiz Live” But Sparks Racial Controversy” is categorized as “entertainment”.
