UPDATE: GREASE: LIVE Officially Beats NBC's 'The Wiz'; Closes In on 'Sound of Music'

UPDATE: New numbers are emerging for FOX's Sunday night broadcast of GREASE: LIVE. The show delivered 12.2M viewers overall from 7 to 10 p.m.

In the all-important A18-49 demographic, the live production delivered a 4.3, just a hair shy of the 4.6 NBC averaged with 2013's SOUND OF MUSIC. With women aged 12-34, the FOX musical was especially strong, averaging a 5.3 rating and 20 share.

Ratings for the show peaked with a 4.6/13 in the demo and 12.81 million viewers overall in its final half-hour. The show is now Fox's second highest-rated night of entertainment programming (non-sports) of the season in 18-49 (behind the night of the "Empire" season premiere), and its largest overall audience for any night this season (beating the 11 million for the premiere of "American Idol").

Sunday's broadcast now officially trumps NBC's "The Wiz Live!" (3.4/11 in 18-49 and 11.50 million viewers overall) and "Peter Pan Live!" (2.4/7 in 18-49, 9.21 million viewers overall).

Following this morning's ratings reports, Fox no doubt is thrilled with its plans to air THE PASSION, a live, biblical-themed musical on March 20th, as well as its upcoming revival of the ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. NBC will also continue to expand its live musical presentations, recently announcing that it will air a live version of HAIRSPRAY in December.

Source: Variety

9:40 am: The first ratings are in for FOX's live broadcast of GREASE: LIVE and from the initial numbers, it appears that viewership was strong.

According to Deadline, despite being up against a strong night of competition from the Big 4 networks as well as the NFL's AFC-NFC Pro-Bowl, GREASE: LIVE scored a 7.4/11 in metered market. The numbers are very similar to NBC's December 3rd live broadcast of THE WIZ, which delivered a 7.9/13 metered market. The Queen Latifah-starring musical also delivered a 3.4/11 rating among adults 18-49 with 11.5 million total viewers. Based on early numbers, it appears that the FOX presentation of the beloved 1950's-themed musical will be in a similar range.

As a point of comparison, NBC's PETER PAN LIVE earned a 5.9/19 rating, while 2013's THE SOUND OF MUSIC remains the ratings champion, delivering a 10.9/18 rating and 18.62 million viewers.

In MM results, FOX won the night with CBS coming in second with a 6.0/9, NBC third with a 2.9/5 and ABC in fourth place with a 1.5/2.

BWW will continue to update you as final ratings reports come in.

GREASE: LIVE reintroduced and reimagined some of the show's most memorable moments, great music and timeless love story to an entirely new generation. In this live television adaptation of the musical classic, the beginning of senior year means the end of Danny and Sandy's summer romance - until Sandy unexpectedly transfers to Danny's high school. With their friends pulling them in different directions, it's up to Danny and Sandy to stay hopelessly devoted as they make their way from Rydell High to a new frontier.

The live event starred Julianne Hough ("Safe Haven," "Rock of Ages") as the angelic "Sandy" - Rydell High's most talked-about newcomer - and Aaron Tveit ("Graceland," "Les Miserables") as bad boy "Danny Zuko." Also tapped to star are Vanessa Hudgens (Broadway's "Gigi," "Spring Breakers") as iconic bad girl "Rizzo"; Keke Palmer (SCREAM QUEENS, "Masters of Sex") as sassy Pink Lady "Marty Maraschino"; Carlos PenaVega ("Big Time Rush") as "Kenickie," Danny's tough-guy sidekick; multi-Platinum Grammy® Award-nominated singer and songwriter Carly Rae Jepsen as Pink Lady and beauty school dropout "Frenchy"; Kether Donohue ("You're The Worst") as Pink Lady "Jan"; David Del Rio ("Spare Parts," "The Troop") as T-Bird "Putzie; Jordan Fisher as "Doody"; and Andrew Call as "Sonny."

Photo credit: Kevin Estrada/FOX