“America’s Got Talent” finished atop the prime-time ratings for the 10th consecutive week NBC has broadcast an original episode while its results show was second for the second time in the two weeks it has aired this summer, according to figures released Tuesday.
The Aug. 21 “America’s Got Talent” competition episode averaged 11.209 million viewers, more than the combined total for the programming airing opposite it on CBS, ABC and Fox, according to live-plus-same-day figures released by Nielsen Tuesday.
“America’s Got Talent” has been the most-watched entertainment program every week an original episode has aired this summer and last summer.
The Aug. 22 results show averaged 9.697 million viewers, 1.6 percent less than the 9.857-million average the previous week, which was NBC’s largest non-Olympics audience in the Wednesday 8-9 p.m. time slot since “America’s Got Talent’s” Sept. 20 season finale.
The only other prime-time programs between Aug. 20 and Sunday to average more than seven million viewers were the CBS news magazine “60 Minutes”(7.378 million) and NBC’s coverage of Sunday’s NFL preseason game between the Arizona Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys (7.172 million).
NFL preseason games accounted for Thursday and Saturday’s most-watched prime-time programs.
Fox’s coverage of Thursday’s Cleveland-Philadelphia game finished fifth for the week, averaging 6.495 million viewers. Saturday’s Chargers-New Orleans Saints game on CBS averaged 3.402 million viewers, 33rd for the week.
The combination of two “America’s Got Talent” episodes and an NFL preseason game helped NBC to the most-watched week by any network since the week of June 4-10 when ABC carried the concluding two games of the NBA Finals.
NBC averaged 4.94 million viewers for its eighth consecutive weekly victory. CBS was second for the seventh time in eight weeks, averaging 4.02 million viewers.
ABC was third for the 10th time in the 11 weeks since the conclusion of the NBA Finals, averaging 3.56 million viewers. Its most-watched program was “Celebrity Family Feud,” sixth for the week, averaging 6.311 million viewers.
Fox finished fourth among the major broadcast networks for the 31st consecutive week, averaging 2.63 million viewers for its 16 hours, 16 minutes of prime-time programming.
Fox’s most-watched program outside of its football coverage was “MasterChef,” 34th for the week, averaging 3.419 million viewers.
NBC aired 21 hours, 45 minutes of prime-time programming for ratings purposes, CBS 21 hours, 30 minutes and ABC 21 hours, 19 minutes.
Three episodes of MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” topped the week’s cable ratings, led by the Aug. 20 episode, which averaged 3.893 million viewers, 28th overall.
Fox News Channel was the most-watched cable network for the 12th consecutive week, averaging 2.259 million viewers.
MSNBC was second, averaging 2.122 million and USA Network third, averaging 1.423 million.
The most-watched Spanish-language prime-time program was the Monday episode of the Telemundo telenovela “El Senor de los Cielos,” which averaged 1.775 million viewers to finish 67th among broadcast programs. Its overall place was not available.
An episode of “El Senor de los Cielos” has been the most-watched Spanish-language prime-time program for seven consecutive weeks.
Telemundo and Univision tied for first among the Spanish-language networks, with both averaging 1.21 million viewers, their second tie in five weeks. Telemundo had finished first in each of the three weeks since the last tie.
UniMas was third, averaging 380,000 viewers, followed by Estrella TV, which averaged 260,000, and Azteca America, which averaged 90,000.
ABC’s “World News Tonight with David Muir” was the most-watched network nightly newscast for the 39th consecutive week and 50th of past 51, averaging 8.041 million viewers.
The “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” was second, averaging 7.44 million viewers.
The “CBS Evening News” averaged 5.406 million viewers. It has finished third each week since the week of Sept. 25-29, 2006.
The week’s 10 most-watched prime-time programs were the Tuesday and Wednesday editions of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent”; CBS’ “60 Minutes”; NBC’s coverage of the Arizona Cardinals-Dallas Cowboys NFL preseason game; ABC’s “Celebrity Family Feud”; NBC’s eight-minute kickoff show preceding the Arizona Cardinals-Dallas Cowboys preseason game; and CBS’ “The Big Bang Theory” and the Wednesday and Sunday episodes of “Big Brother.”