TV Ratings: CBS Wins Broadcast Prime, Fox Wins CableTV

The ABC, CBS and NBC broadcast networks and the cable’s CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC collectively averaged 12.7 million viewers last Thursday when the redacted report on Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election was put out, the Nielsen company said. The Associated Press reports Nielsen measured the three cable networks between 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. EDT, and the two separate special reports aired on each of the broadcast networks within that period.

To put that in some perspective, the ABC, CBS and NBC nightly newscasts collectively reached 20.2 million viewers that night — and that was less than the shows averaged for the full week.

When Attorney General William Barr gave his verbal summary of the Mueller report starting at 9:30, viewership on ABC and CBS was lower than typical daytime programming in that hour, Nielsen said.

For the coverage overall until 1 p.m., Fox News Channel led the way with an average of 2.78 million viewers. CBS, whose second special report was shorter than its rivals, averaged 2.52 million. NBC had 2.19 million, ABC had 2.06 million, MSNBC had 2.01 million and CNN had 1.17 million, Nielsen said.

Fox News Channel was the week’s most popular cable network, averaging 2.41 million viewers in prime time. TNT had 2.2 million, MSNBC had 1.72 million, HGTV had 1.17 million and USA had 1.12 million.

⏩ Basic Cable Top 10 – Prime time (Total Viewers)

1. Fox News (2,478,000)
2. TNT (2,228,000)
3. MSNBC (1,771,000)
4. HGTV (1,187,000)
5. USA (1,080,000)
6. History (1,072,000)
7. ESPN (1,046,000)
8. TBS (953,000)
9. Hallmark (938,000)
10. A&E (936,000)

⏩ Basic cable ranker: Week of... by on Scribd

CBS easily won the week in prime-time, averaging 6 million viewers. ABC had 4.4 million viewers, NBC had 3.6 million, Fox had 2.5 million, ION Television has 1.3 million, Telemundo had 1.25 million, Univision had 1.17 million and the CW had 840,000.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 8.1 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 7.7 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.7 million.

⏩ The Top 20...Primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for April 15-21:

1. “NCIS,” CBS, 11.89 million.
2. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 11.45 million.
3. “Game of Thrones,” HBO, 10.29 million.
4. “FBI,” CBS, 8.77 million.
5. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 8.47 million.
6. “Survivor,” CBS, 7.9 million.
7. “The Voice” (Monday), NBC, 7.66 million.
8. “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC, 7.18 million.
9. “American Idol” (Sunday), ABC, 7.114 million.
10. “America Idol” (Monday), ABC, 7.106 million.

11. “Motown 60: A Grammy Celebration,” CBS, 6.86 million.
12. “Life in Pieces,” CBS, 6.74 million.
13. “Bull,” CBS, 6.66 million.
14. “NCIS: New Orleans,” CBS, 6.54 million.
15. “Mom,” CBS
16. “Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC, 6.25 million.
17. “The Neighborhood,” CBS, 5.75 million.
18. “Amazing Race,” CBS, 5.74 million.
19. “911,’ Fox, 5.65 million.
20. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 5.28 million.

Jeopardy winner James Holzhauer

As for syndication, the session ending April 14 was one for the record books, according to TVNewsCheck.  Jeopardy rose 5% from the week before and took over sole possession of first place in the game show race as contestant James Holzhauer set a single-day record for the program, earning $110,914 on April 9.

However, Jeopardy’s 6.4 live-plus-same-day national Nielsen rating was no match for even a mostly-rerun week of overall leader Judge Judy, which answered with a 6.7 and ruled the syndication chart for a 40th consecutive week. That marked the longest streak of any show at the top of the syndication ratings in 15 years.

Next in line behind Judy, which aired repeats on four of the five days, and Jeopardy were Family Feud at a 6.0 and Wheel of Fortune at a 5.9.

Among talkers, Dr. Phil climbed 4% to a four-week high 2.8 while running two days of encore shows and finished first in the category for the 136th week in a row.

The week’s top-rated daytime talk shows in the women 25-54 demo were:

1. Dr. Phil (1.2, +9% from the week before)
2. Live with Kelly and Ryan (1.0, unchanged)
3. Ellen DeGeneres (0.9, +13%)
4. Maury (0.7, -13%), tied with Wendy Williams (0.7, +17%)
5. Steve Wilkos (0.6, unchanged)
6. Steve (0.5, unchanged)

Among magazines, Access was up the most in the top seven from last year, 8% to a 1.3 and tying TMZ. For the week, Entertainment Tonight and Inside Edition tied for the genre lead at a 2.8, with both dipping 3%. The recently renewed Daily Mail TV held steady at a 1.0 and moved into a tie with Extra.