CBS came out on top for the second time in the two- week-old prime-time television season, thanks in part to having three of the week’s most-watched shows.
CBS scored with the top-rated entertainment program, the police procedural “NCIS”; and the most-watched new series and premiere, “Limitless” and “Code Black,” respectively.
CBS averaged 10.33 million viewers for its prime-time programming between Sept. 28 and Sunday, according to live-plus-same-day figures released by Nielsen Tuesday. NBC was second, averaging 9.3 million, followed by ABC (6.78 million) and Fox (5.34 million).
The network order of finish was identical to premiere week.
Viewership for CBS and NBC was lower than during the second week of last season, while NBC and Fox attracted more viewers.
Fox benefited from an hour of prime-time NFL programming it did not have last season. A 32-minute runover of its afternoon NFL coverage into prime time averaged 27.4 million viewers. (The runover is not considered a separate program but is included in the weekly average.)
Fox’s 28-minute postgame show, “The OT,” averaged 13.28 million viewers, putting it ninth among the week’s prime-time programs.
NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” game between the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints was the week’s most-watched program, averaging 24.18 million viewers.
“NCIS” was first among entertainment programs and fourth overall, averaging 15.23 million viewers.
CBS’ “Code Black” was the lone drama among the week’s four premieres on the four major broadcast networks and the most-watched, averaging 8.58 million viewers, winning its Wednesday 10-11 p.m. time slot and finishing 29th for the week.
Despite airing on a Friday, customarily the night when television viewing is the second-lowest of the week, ABC’s “Dr. Ken” was the most- watched of the comedy premieres, averaging 6.71 million viewers to win its Friday 8:30-9 p.m. time slot and finish 44th for the week.
The audience was ABC’s largest in the time slot for a scripted program since the “Malibu Country” finale on March 22, 2013, outside of when second episodes of “Last Man Standing” have aired.
The premiere of Fox’s “Grandfathered” averaged 5.34 million viewers, finishing fourth in its Tuesday 8-8:30 p.m. time slot and 57th for the week. The premiere of “The Grinder,” which followed on Fox, averaged 4.98 million viewers, landing it third in its Tuesday 8:30-9 p.m. time slot and 60th for the week.
“Limitless,” CBS’ sequel to the 2011 film with the same title, was the week’s most-watched new series, averaging 9.73 million viewers and winning its Tuesday 10-11 p.m. time slot for the second time in two weeks.
NBC finished first among viewers ages 18-49, the harder-to-reach group that ABC and Fox also target and advertisers covet, for the second time in the season’s two weeks. NBC’s viewership among the group was unchanged from the second week of last season, while Fox’s was up and both CBS and ABC’s were down.
ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” game between the Green Bay Packers and New York Jets was the week’s most-watched cable program and seventh among all prime-time programs, averaging 13.51 million viewers.
ESPN was the most-watched cable network for the fourth consecutive week, averaging 2.92 million viewers. Fox News Channel was second, averaging 1.91 million.
The week’s most-watched Spanish-language prime-time program was the Univision singing competition “La Banda,” which averaged 2.97 million viewers, 87th among all prime-time broadcast and cable programs.
As usual, Univision was the most-watched Spanish-language network, averaging 2.22 million viewers. Telemundo was second, averaging 1.32 million, followed by UniMas, (560,000), Estrella TV (250,000), MundoMax, formally known as MundoFox (160,000) and Azteca America (130,000).
The “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” was the most-watched network nightly newscast for the 15th consecutive week, averaging 8.61 million viewers, followed by ABC’s “World News Tonight with David Muir” (8.47 million) and the “CBS Evening News” anchored by Scott Pelley (7.23 million).
The week’s 10 most-watched prime-time programs were NBC’s “Sunday Night Football”; CBS’ “Thursday Night Football”; NBC’s 11-minute “Sunday Night Football” kickoff show; CBS’ “NCIS” and “The Big Bang Theory”; Fox’s “Empire”; ESPN’s “Monday Night Football”; the Tuesday episode of NBC’s “The Voice”; Fox’s 32-minute football postgame show, “The OT”; and CBS’ “NCIS: New Orleans.”
— City News Service