CBS reclaims the No. 1 spot
The network’s roster of highly watched scripted shows, led by ‘NCIS,’ fuels victory.
CBS returned to the top of the weekly prime-time television ratings last week after a two-week absence with 10 of the 12 mostwatched scripted series, topped by “NCIS.”
CBS averaged 7.29 million viewers for its primetime programming March 612 for its 12th victory in the 25-week-old season, according to live-plus-same day figures released by Nielsen on Thursday.
NBC averaged 5.94 million viewers to finish second, a week after its first weekly victory without an NFL telecast since the week of March 7-13, 2016. ABC was third, averaging 4.38 million, followed by Fox, which averaged 2.59 million.
CBS finished second each of the previous two weeks. It did not air original episodes of its five mostwatched scripted series for the season the week of Feb. 27-March 5. ABC won the week of Feb. 20-26 thanks to its Oscars coverage.
“NCIS” averaged 14.18 million viewers, one of eight programs, including three on CBS, to average more than 10 million viewers. “The Big Bang Theory” was second, averaging 13.07 million.
NBC had each of the next three most-watched programs, the Monday and Tuesday episodes of “The Voice,” which averaged 12 million and 11.62 million, respectively, and the season’s next-to-last episode of the critically acclaimed firstyear drama, “This Is Us,” which averaged a seasonhigh 11.15 million viewers.
The viewership for “This Is Us” was the largest for an NBC scripted program in the Tuesday 9-10 p.m. time slot during the official television season since the Jan. 9, 2007, episode of “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” averaged 11.80 million viewers.
The AMC horror series “The Walking Dead” was the most-watched cable program for the fourth time in five weeks, averaging 10.68 million viewers, sixth overall. “Walking Dead” was the week’s most-watched program among viewers ages 1849, averaging 6.27 million viewers among the group targeted by ABC, Fox, NBC and many cable networks and coveted by advertisers. “This Is Us” was second, averaging 3.80 million viewers.
Fox News Channel was the most-watched cable network for the eighth consecutive week, averaging 2.43 million viewers. ESPN was second for the second consecutive week, averaging 1.75 million. HGTV averaged 1.65 million viewers to finish third for the second consecutive week after finishing second three times in the previous four weeks.