TV Ratings: March Madness + 60Minutes Put CBS On Top

The NCAA men’s basketball tournament helped “60 Minutes” draw its largest audience since Jan. 8 as CBS finished first in the network race for the sixth time in eight weeks.

The news magazine was the top ranked prime-time program between March 13 and Sunday, averaging 8.261 million viewers for a broadcast with a two-part report on the state of the U.S. Navy and a profile of billionaire businessman Rocco Commisso, owner of the Italian soccer team ACF Fiorentina, according to The L-A Times citing live-plus-same-day figures released by Nielsen on Tuesday.

“60 Minutes” followed a 39-minute overrun of CBS’ afternoon coverage of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in the Eastern and Central time zones.  The Jan. 8 edition of “60 Minutes” averaged a season-high 11.215 million viewers for Prince Harry’s first American television interview in connection with the release of his memoir “Spare.”

The only two other prime-time programs to average more than 7 million viewers also aired on CBS — “NCIS,” second for the week averaging 7.187 million viewers and “FBI,” third averaging 7.164 million.

CBS had 11 of the top 12 prime-time programs and averaged 5.15 million viewers. Those included the highest rated prime-time sporting event, Texas’ 71-66 victory over Penn State in a second-round NCAA men’s basketball game Saturday, fifth for the week, averaging 6.631 million viewers; the top rated comedy “The Neighborhood,” eighth averaging 5.534 million viewers; the ratings leader for programs beginning at 10 p.m., “NCIS: Hawai’i,” ninth, averaging 5.153 million viewers; and the most popular first-season program, the police drama, “East New York,” 15th, averaging 4.745 million.

NBC finished second, averaging 2.94 million viewers. It had the leading non-CBS program, the March 13 edition of “The Voice,” which was fourth for the week averaging 6.99 million viewers. ABC was third, averaging 2.85 million viewers, with “American Idol” leading its lineup for the fourth time in the five weeks it has aired this season, averaging 4.884 million viewers, 14th for the week. The only interruption to that streak was the week that ABC aired the Oscars. Fox averaged 2.21 million viewers. The procedural drama “9-1-1” was its top program for the second consecutive week, finishing 17th, averaging 4.381 million viewers.

The top 20 prime-time programs consisted of nine CBS scripted programs, its news magazine “60 Minutes” and its alternative series “Survivor”; two editions of the NBC singing competition, “The Voice”; one NCAA men’s basketball tournament game each on CBS and TNT; three ABC programs — the alternative programs “American Idol” and “America’s Funniest Home Videos” and the scripted firefighters drama “Station 19” — and two Fox programs, “9-1-1” and the singing competition, “The Masked Singer.”

📺BROADCAST EVENING NEWS

ABC's David Muir, CBS' Norah O'Donnell, NBC's Lester Holt

All three evening newscasts saw viewership declines from the previous week, which often happens during the first week of daylight savings time.

Nevertheless, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir was the top-rated evening newscast for the week of March 13, 2023, and has now defeated its competition from NBC and CBS 224 of the past 225 weeks in average total viewers—and 153 of the last 155 weeks among Adults 25-54.

Norah O’Donnell’s two-part report on the state of the Navy aboard the USS Nimitz in the South China Sea on Sunday’s 60 Minutes helped the show earn the top spot as the week’s No. 1 primetime program.

According to Nielsen live plus same-day data, the newsmagazine show averaged 8.26 million total viewers and 1.62 million viewers in the A25-54 demo, making it the most-watched primetime program and the second most-watched primetime program in the key advertiser demo.

O’Donnell was given rare access to the ship and its officers during a deployment. She spoke to the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Admiral Samuel Paparo , at sea and the chief of naval operations, Admiral Mike Gilday, at the Pentagon. The report also included a candid discussion of U.S. contingency planning for Taiwan and how the U.S. attempts to maintain readiness while keeping up with China’s rapid and remarkable naval and military build-up.

📺LATE NIGHT TV

Graphic Courtesy of RoadMN

📺CABLE TV

Fox News Channel won the cable network battle in prime-time for the eighth consecutive week, averaging 1.949 million viewers.

TNT was second, averaging 1.866 million viewers, TBS third, averaging 1.761 million and truTV fourth, averaging 1.125 million viewers. All three networks broadcast NCAA men’s basketball tournament games. MSNBC was the other cable network to average more than 1 million viewers for its prime-time programming, averaging 1.078 million.

The highest rated cable program was TNT’s coverage of Fairleigh Dickinson’s 63-58 victory over Purdue on Friday, when Fairleigh Dickinson became the second 16th-seeded team in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament to defeat a No. 1 seed. The game averaged 4.371 million viewers, 18th for the week.

The cable top 20 consisted of nine NCAA men’s basketball tournament games and three tournament studio shows; six Fox News Channel weeknight political talk shows (four broadcasts of “Tucker Carlson Tonight” and two of “Hannity”); History’s “The Curse of Oak Island”; and the MSNBC news and opinion program, “The Rachel Maddow Show.”

Graphics Courtesy of RoadMN

In terms of individual programming, TV Newser reports Tucker Carlson Tonight marked its second consecutive week as cable news’ most-watched show, averaging 3.15 million total viewers at 8 p.m. last week.

The Five came in second with an average of 2.95 million viewers at 5 p.m. Jesse Watters Primetime remained third (2.55 million at 7 p.m.), with Hannity (2.37 million at 9 p.m.), and Special Report with Bret Baier (2.09 million at 6 p.m.) rounding out the top five.

Carlson continues to draw the most adults 25-54 on cable news, averaging 396,000 viewers from the measurement this past week. The Five came in second with 296,000 viewers at 5 p.m., with Gutfeld! (277,000), Hannity (265,000) and Jesse Watters Primetime (249,000) rounding out the top five in the key A25-54 demo.

Fox News had the 10-most-watched cable news shows and 12 of the top 15 for the week of March 6. MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell remains No. 11 with a 1.37 million total viewer average at 10 p.m., and The Beat with Ari Melber remained No. 13 with 1.3 million at 6 p.m.

MSNBC’s Deadline: White House with Nicolle Wallace was the most-watched show on cable news at 4 p.m. this past week, averaging nearly 1.29 million total viewers.

Additionally, Fox News had at least the top 15 cable news shows of the week among Adults 25-54.

CNN just recorded its smallest weekly primetime audience in the advertiser-coveted demo of adults 25-54 in over 30-years.

CNN averaged just 84,000 viewers during the hours of 8-11 p.m. ET. The block begins with Anderson Cooper at 8 p.m. The network then rotates hosts and airs specials from 9-11, as it searches for permanent hosts.

Charles Barkley and Gayle King are among the names the channel continues to consider.

Former Biden Administration press secretary Jen Psaki’s show on MSNBC debuted on Sunday.

“Inside with Jen Psaki” looked and sounded, for the most part, like the kind of show you would expect to see and hear on a Sunday morning cable news network. The former Biden White House press secretary had Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and New York City Mayor Eric Adams among her guests.

But there was a bit of a twist, and the show should get credit for at least trying. Psaki’s interview with Adams took place on the subway and at his home. It was the first of what the show is calling “Weekend Routine,” where Psaki interviews subjects in less formal settings.

Graphic Courtesy of RoadMN

So how were the ratings?  Psaki placed #8, considered to be a good start.

📺STREAMING TV

“The Glory” was Netflix’s most-streamed program for the second consecutive week, with viewers spending 123.59 million hours watching the 16 episodes of the South Korean revenge thriller, including the second eight episodes of the first season that were released March 10. Viewership dropped less than 1% from the 124.46 million hours watched the previous week.

“Luther: The Fallen Sun” was Netflix’s most popular movie for the second consecutive week, with viewers watching the continuation of the BBC psychological crime thriller for 69.54 million hours, 5.5% more than the 65.92 million hours watched the previous week when it was available for three days.