NEW YORK (AP) — NBC’s victory during the November ratings sweeps period means there’s a new king of
broadcast television — at least for now.
The network ended CBS’ 18-year winning streak in November, a period when ratings are watched closely to
set advertising rates. A combination of factors, including football, producer Dick Wolf and the absence
of "The Big Bang Theory" all contributed.
NBC’s "Sunday Night Football" telecast has averaged 20.2 million viewers this fall, making it
the most popular program on TV, the Nielsen company said. The closest entertainment program is CBS’
"NCIS," with 14.5 million. The splintering of television’s audience increases the relative
importance of football in the ratings and should give NBC some pause before doing a victory dance, since
it goes away soon.
NBC has also shown strength with Wolf’s trio of Chicago-based dramas, which have come to dominate
broadcast television on Wednesday nights. NBC’s "This is Us" ranks below "NCIS" and
"FBI" as the third most-popular entertainment show.
At the same time, the loss of "The Big Bang Theory" has left a hole in CBS’ lineup.
With prime-time football games on Sunday and Thanksgiving night, NBC had a dominant week. On Thanksgiving
Day, the 22.1 million people who watched the "Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade" on NBC made it
the most popular entertainment show on TV since the Oscars, Nielsen said.
For Thanksgiving week in prime time, NBC averaged 8.9 million viewers. CBS had 6.3 million, ABC had 3.6
million, Fox had 3.1 million, ION Television had 1.4 million, Univision had 1.3 million, Telemundo had
880,000 and the CW had 790,000.
ESPN was the week’s most popular cable network, averaging 2.78 million viewers in prime time. Hallmark
was second with 2.45 million, Fox News Channel had 2.14 million, MSNBC had 1.28 million and Discovery
had 999,000.
ABC’s "World News Tonight" topped the evening newscasts with an average of 9.3 million viewers.
NBC’s "Nightly News" was second with 9.1 million and the "CBS Evening News" had 6
million viewers.
For the week of Nov. 25-Dec. 1, the top 20 shows, their networks and viewerships:
1. NFL Football: New England at Houston, NBC, 21.45 million.
2. NFL Football: New Orleans at Atlanta, NBC, 20.81 million.
3. "NFL Pregame Show" (Sunday), NBC, 15.13 million.
4. "NFL Pregame Show, Part 2" (Thursday), NBC, 14.74 million.
5. "60 Minutes," CBS, 12.53 million.
6. NFL Football: Baltimore at L.A. Rams, ESPN, 11.35 million.
7. "Football Night in America, Pt. 3," NBC, 11.12 million.
8. "NCIS," CBS, 11.05 million.
9. "NFL Pregame Show, Part 1′ (Thursday), NBC, 9.99 million.
10. "Young Sheldon," CBS, 8.97 million.
11. "FBI," CBS, 8.82 million.
12. "60 Minutes" (Sunday, 8:30 p.m.), CBS, 8.3 million.
13. "The Voice" (Tuesday), NBC, 7.87 million.
14. "Dancing With the Stars," ABC, 7.76 million.
15. "The Voice" (Monday), NBC, 7.34 million.
16. "Football Night in America, Pt. 2," NBC, 7.07 million.
17. "Dolly Parton: 50 Years at the Opry," NBC, 7 million.
18. "NCIS: New Orleans," CBS, 6.87 million.
19. "Survivor," CBS, 6.49 million.
20. "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 6.42 million.
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ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co. CBS is owned by CBS Corp. CW is a joint venture of Warner Bros.
Entertainment and CBS Corp. Fox is owned by Fox Corp. NBC and Telemundo are owned by Comcast Corp. ION
Television is owned by ION Media Networks.
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