Airing just two episodes thus far, the new primetime soap “Promised Land” is already not living up to its name in the Nielsen ratings.
Debuting Monday, January 24 on ABC, “Promised Land” averaged a mere 1.893 million viewers and a 0.22 rating in Adults 18-49 in Live+Same Day broadcast finals for episode one, reports ShowBuzzDaily. In week two (January 31), the series held its week ago demo but lost over 100,000 viewers (1.765 million vs 1.893 million) in Live+Same Day broadcast finals.
Overall, lead-in “The Bachelor” averaged 3.607 million viewers and a 0.77 rating in Adults 18-49 for the January 24 episode while attracting 3.537 million viewers and a 0.78 rating in Adults 18-49 for its January 31 episode.
For context, “The Bachelor” airs over two hours (from 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET/PT) and was the highest-rated or the second highest-rated show among the big four networks on both nights. Meanwhile, “Promised Land” airs at 10:00 p.m. and was the lowest-rated (including ties) or the second lowest-rated series on both nights. Also, the first two episodes were made available on Hulu the day after the series premiered (since January 25), marking the first time an ABC series was available on Hulu before airing on the network.
Further, on Monday, January 31, NBC’s special celebrating the life and career of the late Betty White (“Celebrating Betty White: America’s Golden Girl”) won its 10:00 p.m. slot with 4.274 million viewers and a 0.52 rating in Adults 18-49 which was the fourth highest-rated program of the night in the demo and the second most-watched overall.
“Promised Land” follows two Latin families vying for wealth and power in California’s Sonoma Valley. The series stars John Ortiz as Joe Sandoval, Cecilia Suárez as Lettie Sandoval, Augusto Aguilera as Mateo, Christina Ochoa as Veronica Sandoval, Mariel Molino as Carmen Sandoval, Tonatiuh as Antonio Sandoval, Andres Velez as Carlos, Katya Martín as Juana and Rolando Chusan as Billy and Bellamy Young as Margaret Honeycroft.
The show is written and executive produced by Matt Lopez. Adam Kolbrenner and Maggie Malina also serve as executive producers. Executive producer Michael Cuesta also directs. The series is produced by ABC Signature, a part of Disney Television Studios.