This undated publicity photo provided by PBS shows Shirley MacLaine as Martha Levinson from the TV series, "Downton Abbey." The third season premiere airs in the U.S. on Sunday, Jan. 6, 2013 on PBS. (AP Photo/PBS, Carnival Film & Television Limited 2012 for MASTERPIECE, Nick Briggs)

‘Downton Abbey’ returns to record ratings in Utah

The Salt Lake Tribune

First Published Jan 07 2013 12:40 pm • Last Updated Jan 07 2013 12:57 pm

"Downton Abbey" returned on Sunday night and did its best ratings ever in Utah.

Based on the early returns, the two-hour "Masterpiece Classic" presentation averaged a 5.6 rating, beating two of the four commercial broadcast networks in the Salt Lake television market. And that number is more than double the 2.5 rating the Season 2 finale pulled locally. (A rating point represents 1 percent of the homes in the Salt Lake market, which includes all of Utah and parts of Idaho, Wyoming and Nevada.)

The comparisons are rather astonishing. "Masterpiece Classic" averages a 1.5 rating on KUED; the Season 3 premiere of "Downton Abbey" was 373 percent of that.

And Channel 7 averages about a 1 rating in prime time overall; the "Downton" number is 560 percent of that.

The numbers will change somewhat when DVR viewing is added in over the next week, but here’s what the numbers look like on Monday:

• CBS (KUTV/Ch. 2) averaged a 7.3 rating for the two hours ("The Good Wife," 5.9; "The Mentalist," 8.7)

• NBC (KSL/Ch. 5) averaged a 6.3 rating ("The Biggest Loser")

• PBS (KUED/Ch. 7) averaged a 5.6 rating ("Downton Abbey")

• ABC (KTVX/Ch. 4) averaged a 3.0 rating ("Revenge," 4.2; "Happy Endings," 1.8; "Don’t Trust the B.... in Apt. 23," 1.7)

•Fox (KSTU/Ch. 13) averaged a 5.2 rating ("Family Guy," 4.6; "American Dad," 3.3; Fox News at 9; 6.5)

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