With each of the four major broadcast networks continuing their Holy Week practice of running more reruns than usual, “60 Minutes” was the most-watched prime-time program for the third time in seven weeks, according to live-plus-same-day figures released Tuesday by Nielsen.
The CBS news magazine averaged 9.681 million viewers for an episode that included two stories related to the coronavirus pandemic. “60 Minutes” has also finished second twice, third once and fourth once over the past seven weeks.
CBS has had the most-watched prime-time program for seven consecutive weeks — three episodes each of “60 Minutes” and “NCIS” and a Democratic presidential debate.
NBC had both of the other two prime-time programs between April 6 and Sunday to average more than 9 million viewers — “The Voice,” which averaged 9.597 million viewers, and “Chicago Med,” which averaged 9.05 million.
“Chicago Fire,” which followed “Chicago Med,” was fourth for the week, averaging 8.969 million viewers.
“Chicago PD,” which followed “Chicago Fire,” was the week’s most-watched 10 p.m. program, averaging 7.671 million viewers, eighth for the week.
CBS averaged 5.83 million viewers to finish first in the network race for the ninth consecutive week and the 14th time in the 29-week-old 2019-20 prime-time television season, despite airing reruns of its entire Tuesday lineup, including “NCIS,” television’s most-watched scripted program, along with “Young Sheldon,” the most-watched comedy, and perennial 10 p.m. Friday time slot winner “Blue Bloods.”
ABC and NBC tied for second, both averaging 4.57 million viewers. Fox was fourth among the broadcast networks for the 10th time in the 10 weeks following its Super Bowl LIV telecast, averaging 2.57 million viewers for its 15 hours of prime-time programming.
CBS, ABC and NBC each aired 22 hours of prime-time programming.
The “NCIS” rerun was CBS’ second most-watched program of the week, averaging 7.862 million viewers, finishing sixth overall. It averaged more viewers than all but two scripted programs on rival networks.
ABC’s most-watched program was the action drama “Station 19,” which drew its largest audience among its 39 episodes over three seasons, 7.561 million viewers, ninth for the week.
ABC also got boosts from the series finale of “Modern Family” and “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”
“Modern Family” was 11th for the week and had its largest audience since Jan. 11, 2017 — 7.37 million viewers — the most among comedies, and the first of a series of celebrity episodes of “Millionaire,” which followed, averaged 6.206 million viewers, putting it 21st for the weekand third among 10 p.m. programs.
“The Masked Singer” was Fox’s most-watched program for the ninth time in the 10 weeks since its Super Bowl telecast, averaging 7.943 million viewers, fifth for the week.
Fox News Channel was first among cable network for the 12th consecutive week, averaging 3.461 million viewers.
Fox News Channel had each of the week’s 13 most-watched prime-time cable programs after having each of the top 15 the previous two weeks. Its most-watched program was the Monday edition of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” which averaged 4.911 million viewers, for 37th overall.
MSNBC was second among cable networks for the sixth time in eight weeks, averaging 1.939 million viewers. CNN averaged 1.824 million viewers to finish third, one week after finishing second.
An episode of the Univision telenovela “Amor eterno” was the most-watched Spanish-language prime-time program for the second consecutive week, with the Monday episode averaging 2.115 million viewers, 71st among broadcast programs. Its overall rank was not available.
Univision was the most-watched Spanish-language network for the 19th consecutive week and 21st time in 22 weeks, averaging 1.58 million viewers.
Telemundo was second, averaging 990,000 viewers, followed by UniMas (580,000), Estrella TV (210,000) and Azteca America (50,000).
ABC’s “World News Tonight with David Muir” was the most-watched network nightly newscast for the 19th consecutive week, the 70th time in 71 weeks and the 122nd time in 124 weeks, averaging 11.357 million viewers.
“NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” was second, averaging 9.933 million viewers, followed by the “CBS Evening News” (6.903 million).
The week’s 10 most-watched prime-time programs were CBS’ “60 Minutes”; NBC’s “The Voice,” “Chicago Med” and “Chicago Fire”; Fox’s “The Masked Singer”; CBS’ “NCIS” and “Survivor”; NBC’s “Chicago PD”; ABC’s “Station 19”; and CBS’ “Magnum P.I.”
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