CBS scores big weekly win in prime-time TV ratings

[January 16, 2013]  NEW YORK (AP) -- CBS can savor its most-viewed week this season with an audience far bigger than its rivals'.

Averaging 13.28 million viewers last week (with an 8.2 rating, 13 share), CBS beat the average weekly prime-time audience of any network this season, according to Nielsen Co. data released Tuesday.

Meanwhile, CBS scored with two scripted shows that each drew more than 20 million viewers ("NCIS" and "The Big Bang Theory," which ranked second and third for the week, respectively). It's the first time any network has accomplished that feat since CBS did it in 2007, according to that network.

For the week of Jan. 7, Fox could claim the top-rated show: the NFC Playoff game pitting the Green Bay Packers against the San Francisco 49ers. It drew nearly 31 million viewers.

NBC struck gold with "The Golden Globe Awards," which attracted 20 million viewers to rank fourth.

Two new NBC shows had modest premieres. The melodrama "Deception" ranked 46th place, while sitcom "1600 Penn" debuted in 80th place.

Overall, the week belonged to CBS, which could boast 14 of the top 20 shows.

Far behind in second place was Fox with 7.67 million viewers (4.4 rating, 7 share), followed by NBC 6.84 million (4.3 rating, 7 share), ABC with 6.36 million (4.1 rating, 6 share), ION with 1.20 million (.8 rating, 1 share), and the CW with 1.14 million (.8 rating, 1 share).

Among the Spanish-language networks, Univision led with an average of 3.82 million viewers (1.9 rating, 3 share). Telemundo had 1.38 million (0.7 rating, 1 share), TeleFutura had 630,000 (0.3 rating, 1 share), Estrella had 230,000 (0.1 rating, 0 share) and Azteca had 140,000 (0.1 rating, 0 share).

NBC's "Nightly News" topped the evening newscasts with an average of 9.31 million viewers (6.3 household rating, 11 share). ABC's "World News" was second with 8.49 million (5.7 rating, 11 share) and the "CBS Evening News" had 7.14 million viewers (4.8 rating, 9 share).

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 Jan. 7-13, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: NFC Playoff: Green Bay at San Francisco, Fox, 30.89 million; "NCIS," CBS, 21.11 million; "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 20.00 million; "Golden Globe Awards," NBC, 19.69 million; "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 17.90 million; "Person of Interest," CBS, 15.67 million; "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 14.40 million; "60 Minutes," CBS, 14.05 million; "Modern Family," ABC, 12.04 million; "Elementary," CBS, 11.48 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 a unit 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.

[Associated Press; By FRAZIER MOORE]

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