“The Bachelor” settled for new lows in the overnight ratings with the debut of Matt James on Season 25 on Monday night.
In the Live+Same Day ratings, the long-running ABC dating show pulled in a 1.3 rating in adults 18-49 and 5 million viewers from 8-10 p.m. That is the lowest ratings for a season premiere of the series to date, with the previous record low coming in 2019. That season premiere, featuring Colton Underwood, drew a 1.5 rating and 5.1 million viewers. This season’s premiere was also down over 30% in the key demo and around 18% in total viewers compared to last season.
It should be noted, however, that the show will more than likely see a good amount of lift in delayed viewing in the coming days.
Later on ABC, a preview of the Craig Ferguson game show “The Hustler” opened to a soft 0.5 rating and 2 million viewers, retaining less than half of its lead in from “The Bachelor.” Still, ABC led the night in the key demo with a 1.0 rating and finished second in viewers with 4 million.
Elsewhere, NBC debuted Season 4 of the game show “The Wall,” which drew a 0.5 rating and 2.5 million viewers. That is down over 40% in both measures compared to the Season 3 premiere of the show.
CBS and NBC tied for second place in the demo for the night, with each network notching a 0.6. CBS was first in viewers, however, with 5.3 million. NBC was third with 2.9 million. Univision came in fourth overall with a 0.4 rating and 1.34 million viewers. Fox tied for fifth in the demo with Telemundo with a 0.3 rating, but Fox was fifth in viewers with 1.32 million. Telemundo was sixth with 971,000 viewers. The CW finished last with a 0.1 rating and 656,000 viewers, airing only reruns.