NBC wins ratings week, narrows season’s gap with CBS

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Powered by football and “The Voice,” NBC won a second consecutive weekly ratings contest and narrowed the gap with front-runner CBS among total viewers for the TV season so far.

For the year to date, NBC has climbed within 902,000 viewers of CBS, the narrowest gap in 15 years, according to Nielsen figures released Tuesday. Longtime leader CBS has drawn 9.9 million viewers compared to NBC’s 9 million.

Networks usually tout their showing among advertiser-favored young adults ages 18 to 49, but staying competitive among all viewers is important as broadcasters divvy up the pie with expanding cable and streaming outlets.

NBC’s Thanksgiving week winners included NFL games, the sophomore drama “This Is Us” and two helpings of talent show “The Voice.”

Viewers also sampled holiday cheer, with ABC’s “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” the highest-ranked entry with 6.68 million viewers.

For the week of Nov. 20 to 26, NBC averaged 8.6 million viewers in prime time. CBS had 6.96 million, ABC had 5.37 million, Fox had 2.96 million, Univision had 1.43 million, CW had 1.31 million, ION Television had 1.28 million and Telemundo had 1.19 million.

ESPN was the most-watched cable network, averaging 3.23 million viewers in prime time and posting cable’s No. 1 show with the NFL contest between the Seahawks and the Falcons.

Hallmark, buoyed by its slate of holiday movies, was close behind with 3.11 million, while Fox News Channel had 1.72 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” remained the evening news champion, averaging 8.56 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 8.08 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 6.42 million.

For the week of Nov 20-26, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: NFL Sunday Night Football: Green Bay at Pittsburgh, NBC, 18.95 million; NFL Thursday Night Football: New York at Washington, NBC, 16.91 million; “Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick,” NBC, 13.32 million; “NCIS,” CBS, 12.54 million; “60 Minutes,” CBS, 12.23 million; “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 12.13 million; “Thursday Night NFL Pre-Kick,” NBC, 11.44 million; “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 11.43 million; NFL Football: Atlanta at Seattle, ESPN, 10.82 million; “Dancing With the Stars” (Monday), ABC, 10.15 million.

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 21st Century Fox. NBC and Telemundo are owned by Comcast Corp. ION Television is owned by ION Media Networks.

___

Online:

http://www.nielsen.com