Olympic trials, talent show give NBC ratings boost

[July 05, 2012]  NEW YORK (AP) -- A combination of athletic and artistic talent carried NBC to the top of the Nielsen television ratings last week.

Three editions of "America's Got Talent" on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were the three most-watched programs of the week, Nielsen said. Much of NBC's schedule was filled out with U.S. Olympic trials, and they all did well compared to the mix of repeats and reality shows on competing networks.

NBC showed all eight nights of swimming competition in prime-time, its most expansive Olympic trials coverage ever. The event helped whet viewers' appetites for what NBC hopes is successful coverage of the London games, which begin July 27.

The weeks surrounding July Fourth are generally the least-watched of the year for TV networks.

NBC averaged 7.2 million viewers in prime time (4.4 rating, 8 share). CBS was second with a 5.4 million average (3.6, 6), ABC had 4.1 million (2.7, 5), Fox had 3.7 million (2.2, 4), ION Television had 1.2 million (0.8, 1) and the CW had 530,000 (0.4, 1).

Among the Spanish-language networks, Univision led with a 3.3 million average (1.8, 3), Telemundo had 1.1 million (0.6, 1), TeleFutura had 600,000 (0.3, 1), Estrella had 160,000 and Azteca 130,000 (both 0.1, 0).

NBC's "Nightly News" topped the evening newscasts with an average of 7.8 million viewers (5.3, 11). ABC's "World News" was second with 7 million (4.7, 10) and the "CBS Evening News" had 5.7 million viewers (3.8, 8).

A ratings point represents 1,147,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 114.7 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

For the week of June 25-July 1, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: "America's Got Talent" (Tuesday), NBC, 11.67 million; "America's Got Talent" (Wednesday), NBC, 10.66 million; "America's Got Talent" (Monday), NBC, 10.45 million; "U.S. Olympic Trials" (Sunday, 9 p.m.), NBC, 10.02 million; "60 Minutes," CBS, 8.44 million; "NCIS," CBS, 8.0 million; "U.S. Olympic Trials" (Sunday, 8 p.m.), NBC, 7.87 million; "U.S. Olympic Trials" (Friday, 9 p.m.), NBC, 7.79 million; "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 7.7 million; "U.S. Olympic Trials" (Wednesday, 9 p.m.), NBC, 7.09 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 and My Network TV are units of News Corp. NBC and Telemundo are owned by Comcast Corp. ION Television is owned by ION Media Networks. TeleFutura is a division of Univision. Azteca America is a wholly owned subsidiary of TV Azteca S.A. de C.V.

___

Online:

http://www.nielsen.com/

[Associated Press; By DAVID BAUDER]

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.