CBS, ‘NCIS’ for the wins
CBS and “NCIS” were the most-watched network and prime-time program, respectively, for the second consecutive week, while NBC had the next three most-watched programs: “This Is Us” and two episodes of “The Voice.”
CBS averaged 7.2 million viewers for its prime-time programming from March 13 to Sunday for its 13th victory in the 26-week-old season, according to live-plus-same day figures released by Nielsen on Tuesday.
NBC averaged 6.39 million viewers to finish second, followed by ABC, which averaged 4.62 million, and Fox, which averaged 2.57 million.
“NCIS” averaged 14.16 million viewers, one of seven programs, including three each on CBS and NBC, to average more than 10 million.
The first-season finale of the critically acclaimed NBC drama “This Is Us” was second for the week, averaging 12.84 million viewers, topping its previous seasonhigh of 11.16 million set a week earlier. The viewership was the largest for a regularly scheduled NBC script-ed program, other than those following Super Bowl telecasts, since the finale of “ER” on April 2, 2009, averaged 16.4 million viewers. The audience was also the largest for an NBC scripted program in the Tuesday 9-10 p.m. time slot since the Jan. 2, 2007, episode of “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” averaged 13.4 million viewers.
The week’s only premiere on the four major broadcast networks, the NBC comedy “Trial & Error,” was 29th for the week, averaging 5.915 million viewers.
MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” had the most-watched week in its 8½ years, averaging 2.92 million viewers.
The March 14 episode, which focused Trump’s 2005 tax return, averaged 4.13 million viewers, sixth among the week’s prime-time cable programs and second among prime-time news programs behind last Wednesday’s edition of “The O’Reilly Factor” on the Fox News Channel.
The Fox News Channel was the most-watched cable network for the ninth consecutive week, averaging 2.48 million viewers. NCAA tournament coverage enabled TNT to finish second and TBS to finish third, averaging 2.41 million and 1.98 million, respectively.
The AMC’s “The Walking Dead” was the mostwatched cable program for the fifth time in six weeks, averaging 10.32 million viewers, seventh overall.
are the combined rankings for national prime-time network and cable television last week (March 13-19), as compiled by Nielsen. They are based on the average number of people who watched a program from start to finish during its scheduled telecast or on a playback device the same day. Nielsen estimates there are 289 million potential viewers in the U.S. ages 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.