‘World’s Funniest Fails’ Draws Solid Ratings In TV Debut

Netflix exec Ted Sarandos thinks we should all ignore TV ratings until they go away. Sorry, Ted: When a TV show based on a popular YouTube channel hits the airwaves, you can bet we’re going to take a look. World’s Funniest Fails, which brings the schadenfreude of the FailArmy channel to FOX, had a solid debut at 8 PM EST on Friday, January 16th, when it scored a 1.0 rating among the coveted 18-49 set.

The 1.0 figure isn’t huge, but it holds up well when compared to similar programs. For example, the first episode of World’s Funniest Fails outdid the premiere of Riot, which was the last reality program FOX put in its Friday night lineup. It was also the highest rated entertainment program for FOX in the Friday 8PM to 9PM hour in the last nine months (since an episode of Kitchen Nightmares in April 2014) among Adults 18 – 49. World’s Funniest Fails also beat out Constantine, which aired opposite it on NBC, and Glee, which followed it in FOX’s 9 PM slot.

Beyond the 1.0 rating among the 18-49 demographic, World’s Funniest Fails drew 3.33 million viewers in total, which classifies as a respectable debut, though not necessarily a world-beating one. WFF did, however, do very well among Teens. The program tied as the highest-rated broadcast show of the evening among the demographic.

World’s Funniest Fails, which is co-produced by FailArmy owner Jukin Media and Dick Clark Productions, contains a sampling of the goofs, pratfalls, and other user-generated videos that have made FailArmy into a YouTube success story (It has more than 1.2 billion total views.) Over the course of nine episodes, host Terry Crews and a group of panelists will discuss dozens of videos while selected each installment’s “Fail of the Week.” Ratings for the other eight episodes will be posted on this site as they become available.