TV ratings: NFL big for NBC; ‘Charlie Brown’ surges; Lady Gaga soft

NBC gobbled up plenty of viewers with the Thanksgiving NFL matchup between the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The game, a 22-20 victory for Baltimore, drew a household rating of 11.5 in Nielsen’s metered markets Thursday, up 3% from last year. It ran from 8:30 to 11:45 p.m.

The game in prime time (8:30-11 p.m.) drew an average of 18.6 million viewers and a rating of 6.0 in the advertiser-desired 18-49 demographic, according to early numbers from Nielsen, which are not adjusted for time zones.

Out of the four major networks, NBC won the night with a rating of 5.6 in the key demo.

PHOTOS: Behind the scenes of movies and TV

Second place was CBS’ lineup of reruns, which drew an average rating of 2.1 and an audience of 7.35 million, though those numbers are likely to change because the network had an NFL game run over into prime time.

ABC had the annual “Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” special at 8 p.m., which saw a big increase in viewership over last year’s airing. The Peanuts gang drew 5.3 million viewers, up one-third from 2012, and a 1.6 in the 18-49 group, up 45%. The new “Lady Gaga & The Muppets’ Holiday Spectacular” wasn’t so hot, though, pulling a 0.9 rating and around 3.6 million viewers against the NFL competition.

Fox’s lineup of original “X Factor” and “Glee” episodes came in behind ABC. The Simon Cowell singing contest drew a 1.0 in 18-49, while “Glee” brought in a 0.9.

ALSO:

Michael Ovitz sues gallery, alleging fraud over artwork sales

China studio boss likes Hollywood writers, wants film-rating system

‘Hunger Games: Catching Fire,’ ‘Frozen’ to top Thanksgiving weekend

Follow on Twitter: @rfaughnder

[email protected]