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TVWeek, Nielsen, AP

CBS Flexes Ratings Muscle, Pulls Off a Feat That Hasn’t Been Accomplished in the Past Decade

Feb 17, 2016  •  Post A Comment

CBS pulled off an extremely rare accomplishment in dominating the broadcast ratings for the week of Feb. 8-12. In a feat that hasn’t been achieved in at least 10 years, the network swept the top 10 with the 10 most-watched broadcast shows of the week, based on Nielsen data.

One cable program, AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” broke up the CBS monopoly on the top shows, placing third overall. But the best any broadcast network other than CBS could do was 12th place overall, with Fox’s Wednesday edition of “American Idol” grabbing the No. 12 spot with 9.16 million viewers.

The CBS juggernaut was paced by “NCIS” at No. 1 with 16.94 million total viewers, followed by “The Big Bang Theory” at No. 2 with 16.25 million. AMC’s “The Walking Dead” was next with 13.74 million.

The next eight shows are all CBS programs: “Campaign ’16 Republican Debate,” No. 4, 13.44 million; “NCIS: New Orleans,” No. 5, 12.59 million; “Scorpion,” No. 6, 11.36 million; “Blue Bloods,” No. 7, 10.92 million; “60 Minutes,” No. 8, 10.42 million; “Madam Secretary,” No. 9, 10.61 million; “NCIS: Los Angeles,” No. 10, 9.76 million; and “Life in Pieces,” No. 11, 9.35 million.

The AP notes that CBS is in first place season-to-date in total viewers in prime time, averaging 11.74 million viewers, according to Nielsen data.

“During this relatively stable week with no series premieres and few specials, CBS averaged 9.41 million viewers,” the AP reports. “ABC and NBC were tied for a lukewarm second place with 5.07 million while Fox had 4.77 million, Univision had 1.81 million, the CW had 1.72 million, ION Television had 1.26 million and Telemundo had 1.09 million.”

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