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Thursday, June 3, 2021

TV Ratings: CBS Is Top Net For Just-Ended Season


In a designation that feels a little less significant every year, CBS has finished the 2020-21 television season as the nation’s most-watched television network for the 13th consecutive time, The Associatwed Press reports.

CBS averaged 6.28 million prime time viewers in the Nielsen company’s measurement of live-plus-seven viewing, which includes everyone who watched a particular program live and within the next week. CBS has won 18 of the last 19 years, the one-time exception being Fox when “American Idol” dominated TV.

Increasingly, however, the measurement doesn’t reflect how people experience television, because it excludes streaming services and binging of programs outside of their first-week window.

Even though the pandemic kept more people at home, CBS’ prime-time viewership was down 18% from the previous year, as was second-place NBC’s. ABC was down 14% and Fox lost 33% of its audience, Nielsen said.

NBC’s autumn telecasts of “Sunday Night Football” finished as the most-watched individual program for the 10th straight year.

The CBS drama “NCIS,” which aired its first episode in September 2003, was the most popular scripted show, averaging 12.5 million viewers per week. It has been TV’s most popular drama for 11 of the last 12 years, a streak interrupted only by NBC’s “This is Us.”

NBC’s three most popular scripted programs were the three Chicago-set dramas from veteran producer Dick Wolf. For Fox, the most popular shows were the Ryan Murphy-produced drama “911” and its spinoff, “911: Lone Star.”

ABC’s favorite was the 21st most popular show on the list, “Grey’s Anatomy.”

NBC was the most popular network in prime time last week, averaging 4 million viewers in live viewing. CBS had 3.6 million, Fox had 3 million, ABC had 2.9 million, Univision had 1.5 million, Ion Television had 970,000 and Telemundo had 930,000.

Top 20 Prime-Time Shows (Total viewers): 

1. “NCIS,” CBS, 8.96 million.

2. “Chicago Fire,” NBC, 7.263 million.

3. “Chicago Med,” NBC, 7.259 million.

4. “FBI,” CBS, 7.08 million.

5. “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC, 6.73 million.

6. “The Voice” (Monday), NBC, 6.55 million.

7. “911,” Fox, 6.35 million.

8. “Chicago PD,” NBC, 6.33 million.

9. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 6.09 million.

10. “FBI: Most Wanted,” CBS, 5.79 million.

11. “The Masked Singer,” Fox, 5.51 million.

12. “911: Lone Star,” Fox, 5.21 million.

13. “This is Us,” NBC, 5.14 million.

14. “Station 19,” ABC, 4.59 million.

15. “Law & Order: SVU,” NBC, 4.38 million.

16. “Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC, 4.33 million.

17. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 4.25 million.

18. “United States of Al,” CBS, 4.06 million.

19. “Law & Order: Organized Crime,” NBC, 4.04 million.

20. “The Good Doctor,” ABC, 4.03 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” won the evening news ratings race, averaging 7.4 million viewers last week. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 6.4 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 4.8 million.

TNT was the most popular cable network with its NBA playoff coverage, averaging 2.41 million viewers last week. Fox News Channel had 1.91 million, MSNBC had 1.31 million, HGTV had 1.22 million and ESPN had 995,00.

➤For The Month Of May

Fox News was the most-watched cable network for the month of May, and out-performed MSNBC and CNN in total day and prime time among total viewers and adults 25-54 for the third consecutive month, TV Newser reports.

In prime time, Fox averaged 2.17 million viewers, and 345,000 in the 25-54 demographic. In total day, FNC garnered an average of 1.19 million viewers, and 203,000 adults 25-54.

Compared to the prior month (April 2021), the network lost -3% of its average total prime time audience, -6% of its prime time audience from the demo, shed -3% total day viewers, and -5% of its average A25-54 audience across the 24-hour day.

Tucker Carlson Tonight was the No. 1 cable news show of the month, both in total viewers (2.9 million) and among adults 25-54 (478,000). Hannity moved past The Five and back into second place in total viewers. After The Five, The Rachel Maddow Show and The Ingraham Angle rounded out the top five. Hannity finished second in cable news among adults 25-54, ahead of The Five, The Ingraham Angle and The Rachel Maddow Show.

TV Newser also reports MSNBC viewership continues to fall in the Biden era, as expected. Yet, despite the ratings decline, it remains the second-most-watched network on cable television. That was unheard of during the prior Democratic administration.

In May 2021, MSNBC averaged nearly 1.5 million total viewers (No. 2 on basic cable), but just 199,000 adults 25-54 in prime time. That represents a -6% dip in total prime time viewers, and a -12% drop among adults 25-54 in prime vs. the previous month (April 2021). In total day, MSNBC averaged 835,000 total viewers (also No. 2 on basic cable), and 108,000 viewers in the demo. That’s a drop off of -12% in total viewers, and -22% in the demo during total day.

Compared to the news-heavy month of May 2020 (CNN’s most-watched May ever), CNN was down by -45% in average total prime time audience, and -53% of its prime time demo audience. In total day, the network fell by -44% in average total viewers and -50% in the total day demo, according to TV Newser.

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