NBC has best ratings week for a network in 2 months

NEW YORK (AP) - NBC cut through the summer doldrums with the best week for a television network since the NBA Finals were seen on ABC two months ago.

NBC was led, as is typical during the summer months, by “America’s Got Talent.” The competition show was seen by 11.8 million people last week, more than four million more than anything else on television, the Nielsen company said.

Joining favorites like “American Ninja Warrior” and “World of Dance,” NBC added a new competition series in “Making It,” a crafting show co-hosted by former “Parks and Recreation” co-stars Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman. Its audience of 5.2 million people made it the most-watched new series of the summer, Nielsen said.

Football, which will be a mainstay of broadcast network schedules through January, started its preseason with the Hall of Fame game, seen by 6.8 million people on NBC.

NBC averaged 4.7 million viewers for the week, CBS had 3.8 million, ABC had 3.1 million, Fox had 1.9 million, ION Television had 1.4 million, Telemundo has 1.2 million, Univision had 1.1 million and the CW had 840,000.

Fox News Channel was the week’s most popular cable network, averaging 2.34 million viewers in prime time. MSNBC had 1.58 million, USA had 1.38 million, HGTV had 1.36 million and Hallmark had 1.1 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 7.8 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 7.4 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.5 million.

For the week of July 30-Aug. 5, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: “America’s Got Talent,” NBC, 11.83 million; “60 Minutes,” CBS, 7.54 million; NFL Exhibition Football: Chicago vs. Baltimore, NBC, 6.77 million; “NFL Preseason Kickoff,” NBC, 6.57 million; “Celebrity Family Feud,” ABC, 5.96 million; “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 5.86 million; “Big Brother” (Thursday), CBS, 5.62 million; “Big Brother” (Sunday), CBS, 5.57 million; “Big Brother” (Wednesday), CBS, 5.55 million; “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 5.5 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 21st Century Fox. NBC and Telemundo are owned by Comcast Corp. ION Television is owned by ION Media Networks.

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Online:

http://www.nielsen.com