CBS leads with a ‘Bang’ and then some
CBS had six of last week’s 10 most-watched programs, topped by “The Big Bang Theory,” to finish first in the prime-time ratings for the eighth consecutive week.
CBS averaged 7.96 million viewers for its primetime programming between April 21 and Sunday, according to live-plus-same-day figures released by Nielsen on Tuesday. ABC was second, averaging 6.39 million, followed by NBC, which averaged 5.39 million, and Fox, which averaged 4.77 million.
In a week when CBS ran a rerun of “NCIS,” the season’s most-watched scripted series, its comedy “The Big Bang Theory” was the week’s most-watched program, averaging 16.44 million viewers. CBS has had the most-watched program for eight consecutive weeks.
ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” was the week’s other program to average more than 12 million viewers, finishing second, averaging 14.06 million.
NBC swept the third through fifth places on the week’s chart with the Tuesday episode of “The Voice,” which averaged 11.29 million viewers, “The Blacklist,” which averaged 11.24 million, and the Monday episode of “The Voice,” which averaged 11.19 million viewers.
Fox’s most-watched program was Wednesday’s episode of “American Idol,” which was 17th for the week, averaging 9.02 million viewers.
ABC finished first among viewers ages 18-49 for the second consecutive week. The group is targeted by ABC, Fox and NBC and coveted by advertisers because its members watch less television than average and are harder to reach.
HBO’s “Game of Thrones” was the week’s most-watched cable program for the third consecutive week, averaging 6.95 million viewers.
NBA playoff coverage made TNT the mostwatched cable network, averaging 3.05 million viewers. Three of the week’s seven most-watched cable programs were NBA playoff games on TNT, topped by Sunday’s fourth game of the Houston-Portland series that averaged 4.73 million viewers, second among the week’s cable programs.