TV Ratings: CBS Ready To Claim Win For TV Season

The traditional broadcast television season doesn’t end until later this month, but that hasn’t stopped CBS from declaring victory.

CBS issued a statement on Tuesday saying it would end the 2021-22 season as the most-watched television network in prime-time for the 14th straight time, and 19th time out of the past 20, according to The Associated Press citing figures provided by the Nielsen company.

The early victory dance coincided with CBS’ parent company, Paramount Global, announcing its earnings on Tuesday. Although CBS’ lead over second-place NBC (6.35 million to 6.25 million) isn’t large, there was no pushback from NBC. Fox is currently third and ABC fourth.

CBS said that “NCIS” will end the season as the most-watched television drama for the 12th time in 13 years. “Young Sheldon” is the most popular comedy.

CBS won last week in prime time, averaging 4.4 million viewers. ABC had 3.3 million, NBC had 2.8 million, Fox had 2 million, Univision had 1.4 million, Ion Television had 1 million and Telemundo averaged 910,000.

📺Top 20 Prime-Times Shows (Total Viewers)

1. “FBI,” CBS, 7.56 million.

2. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 7.53 million.

3. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 6.91 million.

4. “American Idol” (Sunday), ABC, 6.57 million.

5. “FBI: International,” CBS, 6.1 million.

6. “American Idol” (Monday), ABC, 5.823 million.

7. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 5.815 million.

8. “Survivor,” CBS, 5.72 million.

9. “FBI: Most Wanted,” CBS, 5.44 million.

10. “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” ABC, 5.36 million.

11. “NCIS: Los Angeles” (Sunday, 8 p.m.), CBS, 5.21 million.

12. “NCIS: Los Angeles” (Sunday, 9 p.m.), CBS, 5.19 million.

13. “911,” Fox, 5.08 million.

14. “This is Us,” NBC, 4.93 million.

15. “Law & Order: SVU,” NBC, 4.89 million.

16. “Magnum, P.I., CBS, 4.81 million.

17. “United States of Al,” CBS, 4.62 million.

18. “911: Lone Star,” Fox, 4.58 million.

19. “NFL Draft, Round 1,” ESPN, 4.44 million.

20. “The Price is Right,” CBS, 4.37 million.

📺BROADCAST EVENING NEWS

ABC’s “World News Tonight” won the evening news ratings race with an average of 7.2 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 6.6 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 4.6 million.

With its performance this past week, ABC’s evening newscast has now defeated its competition from NBC and CBS 178 of the past 179 weeks in average total viewers—and 107 of the last 109 weeks among adults 25-54.

📺LATE NIGHT TV

📺CABLE TV

Fox News Channel was the most popular cable network in prime time, averaging 2.29 million viewers. TNT had 2.13 million, ESPN had 1.55 million, MSNBC had 1.14 million and HGTV had 1.03 million.

According to Nielsen live-plus-same-day data, Fox News averaged 2.32 million total viewers in primetime this past week. That’s +2% from what the network averaged in the daypart the previous week. FNC also averaged 360,000 adults 25-54 in primetime, which is steady with the week prior, and ranked No. 3 behind the networks carrying the NBA playoffs, which are TNT ( 1 million – No. 1) and ESPN (744,000 – No. 2).

TV Newser reports Fox News also averaged 1.5 million total viewers in total day during the week of April 25. Not only is that No. 1 on all of basic cable, it’s also +1% from what the network averaged in total day viewers the prior week. FNC also averaged 242,000 adults 25-54 in total day, No. 3 on basic cable behind TNT (316,000) and ESPN (312,000), and steady with the prior week.

Graphics Courtesy of RoadMN (w.permission)

On the cable news programming front, Fox News’ The Five remained the most-watched show on cable news this past week, averaging 3.375 million total viewers at 5 p.m. Tucker Carlson Tonight took second place in total viewers, averaging 3.3 million at 8 p.m., Jesse Watters Primetime at No. 3 ( 2.79 million at 7 p.m.), Hannity at No. 4 ( 2.61 million viewers at 9 p.m.),  and Special Report with Bret Baier (2.54 million at 6 p.m.) rounding out the top five in average total viewers.

Graphics Courtesy of RoadMN

Tucker Carlson Tonight remained the top-rated cable news show among adults 25-54—averaging 554,000 this past week—and Fox News as a network secured 9 of the 10-most-watched cable news shows of the week, 14 of the top 15 in the key A25-54 demo.

MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show was the sole non-Fox show to break the cable news top 10 in total viewers (1.88 million – No. 8) and the top 15 in the key A25-54 demo (212,000 – No. 15).