‘The X-Files’ Premiere Tops 20 Million in 3-Day Viewing Totals

Fox’s reboot of “The X-Files,” which had produced strong same-day ratings when it launched last Sunday, is looking even more impressive...

Fox’s reboot of “The X-Files,” which had produced strong same-day ratings when it launched last Sunday, is looking even more impressive in just-released delayed-viewing numbers. In fact, the number of viewers who watched the premiere exceeded the show’ peak season average, Variety explains.

In Nielsen’s “live plus-3” estimates, “The X-Files” averaged 20.3 million viewers — a 25% jump from its previously reported 16.2 million viewers in same-day. More than half of the 4.1 million-viewer lift in the three days following the premiere (2.1 million) came from video-on-demand, while the other 2 million came via DVR playback.

Sunday’s premiere also drew 1.1 million viewers in three days of streaming on Hulu and FoxNow, bringing the show’s multi-platform premiere audience to 21.4 million. (The only other Fox premiere to do better online this season was the “Empire” premiere, with 1.5 million).

The 7.8 rating makes it television’s third-highest premiere this season in L+3 — behind only AMC’s “The Walking Dead” and Fox’s “Empire.”

The last scripted entertainment program to deliver a higher 18-49 rating for an NFL Conference Championship game was CBS’ “Numbers” in 2005 (9.2).

The Hollywood Reporter stats that there's still the wait-and-see of how the second episode will perform. On the night it aired, it averaged a strong 3.2 rating among adults 18-49 and 9.7 million viewers. Fox execs, however, are likely anticipating bigger boosts when those live-plus-three day stats come in.

WEEK’S TOP SERIES IN ADULTS 18-49 *
(Live plus-3 for Jan. 18-24, 2016)
1.  The X-Files (Fox), 7.8
2.  NCIS (CBS), 3.1
3.  Criminal Minds (CBS), 3.0
4.  American Idol-Wednesday (Fox), 2.9
5.  Scorpion (CBS), 2.8
5.  American Idol-Thursday (Fox), 2.8
5.  The Blacklist (NBC), 2.8
8.  The Bachelor (ABC), 2.7
8.  Chicago Fire (NBC), 2.7
10.  Black-ish (ABC), 2.6
10.  The Goldbergs (ABC), 2.6
10.  Law & Order: SVU (NBC), 2.6


WEEK’S TOP SERIES IN TOTAL VIEWERS (in millions)
(Live plus-3 for Jan. 18-24, 2016)
1.  NCIS (CBS), 20.48
2.  The X-Files (Fox), 20.29
3.  NCIS: New Orleans (CBS), 15.63
4.  Blue Bloods (CBS), 15.23
5.  Scorpion (CBS), 14.47
6.  NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS), 13.75
7.  Hawaii Five-0 (CBS), 12.59
8.  Criminal Minds (CBS), 12.12
9.  The Big Bang Theory-r (CBS), 11.85
10.  The Blacklist (NBC), 11.51

* Source: Nielsen