‘NCIS’ finale is on top
CBS wins for 10th week in a row with help from show and ‘NCIS: New Orleans.’
A 1-2 finish by the season finales of “NCIS” and “NCIS: New Orleans” helped give CBS its 10th consecutive weekly prime-time ratings victory and 27th in the 35week-old season.
“NCIS” averaged its largest audience since Jan. 5, 18.02 million viewers, to be the most-watched program for the fourth time in five weeks, according to live-plus-same day figures released Tuesday by Nielsen.
The only time in the past five weeks “NCIS” failed to finish first is when CBS aired a rerun. Each of the past seven original “NCIS” episodes have been its week’s mostwatched program.
“NCIS: New Orleans,” which followed, averaged 13.3 million viewers, its most since March 22.
CBS averaged 6.93 million viewers for its primetime programming between May 16 and Sunday, the final full week of the official prime-time television season. CBS is assured of being the most-watched network for a record eighth consecutive
season and an unprecedented 13th time in the past 14.
CBS is also assured of finishing first among viewers ages 18 to 49, the group targeted by ABC, Fox and NBC and that advertisers pay a premium to reach. CBS will also finish first among viewers ages 25-54.
ABC averaged 5.89 million viewers to finish second for the week, its highest finish since a second-place finish the week of March 21-27.
ABC received a boost from the Billboard Music Awards, which was fifth for the week, averaging 9.76 million viewers. The audience was the show’s third-largest since 2002, but 12.7% less than last year’s average of 11.18 million, its most since 2001.
ABC’s most-watched program of the week was “Dancing With the Stars,” which averaged 11.64 million viewers to finish third.
NBC averaged 5.03 million viewers to finish third after seven consecutive second-place finishes. Its mostwatched programs were the Monday and Tuesday editions of the singing competition “The Voice,” which were seventh and eighth for the week, averaging 9.52 million and 9.05 million.
Fox was fourth for the sixth consecutive week, averaging 3.23 million viewers. are the combined rankings for national prime-time network and cable television last week (May 16-22), 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.