Glee returned for its third season last night, but the ratings weren’t stellar. Overall, a respectable 8.9 million viewers tuned in (with a 3.8 rating in the key demo), but that’s down 32% from its season 2 premiere last fall. In fact, 8.9 million is on par with some of the lowest ratings from its second season (with most episodes having between 10 and 12 million viewers).
Meanwhile, New Girl – the new series starring Zooey Deschanel – premiered after Glee and built solidly on its lead-in audience. New Girl debuted with an impressive 10.1 million viewers and a 4.7 rating in the adults 18-49 key demographic. New Girls’ debut numbers are also impressive when you compare it to the fact that it was up 52% from the debut of Raising Hope in its slot last year.
Raising Hope also premiered for its second season at 9:30 p.m. and pulled in 6.8 million viewers, with a 3.1 rating, which is on par with its debut last season.
