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Fox on Verge of Sweeps Victory

Feb 28, 2007  •  Post A Comment

With one night left in the February sweeps, Fox is on the verge of surpassing current ratings leader CBS thanks to “American Idol” and the surprise break-out performance of “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader.”

As of Monday, CBS led with a 5.1 average rating to Fox’s 4.8 among adults 18 to 49, according to Nielsen.

After Tuesday night’s performance of “Idol” and the premiere of “5th Grader,” however, Fox jumped to a 5.0 compared to CBS’s 5.1.

Tonight Fox has another 90-minute “Idol” and the second airing of “5th Grader.” Unless the Fox shows underperform, or CBS suddenly surges, network ratings analysts expect Wednesday night to put Fox over the top by at least a tenth of a point. CBS still will win in total viewers and adults 25 to 54.

The runner-up slots are far less contested.

ABC is currently in third place with 3.9, followed by NBC with 3.0. Univision has 1.7 and The CW has 1.3.

If Fox defeats CBS, it will be only the second time in recent years that the network that aired the Super Bowl has not won sweeps. The last time was in 2002, when NBC won with the Olympics.

(Editor: Horowitz)