• by Wayne Friedman , September 23, 2013

By any measure, CBS had a pretty good year -- landing on top of the TV network leaderboard. But attrition at other networks contributed.

Looking at just a couple of days short of the full 52 weeks of the TV network ratings season, CBS will finish first in both total viewers and adults 18-49.

CBS was down 3% from a year ago to a Nielsen 9.95 million total viewers, and ABC lost 6% to 6.98 million viewers. NBC was down 18% to 6.65 million, while Fox gave up 20% to 6.0 million and CW was up 8% at 1.51 million.

Looking at the full year, among 18-49 viewers, CBS had no change at a 2.4 rating in Nielsen live-plus-same-day ratings; NBC was down 19% to a 2.1 rating; Fox sank 22% to a 2.1 number; ABC lost 5% to land at a 2.0 rating; and CW had no change at a 0.6 rating.

Some of the results were due to attrition: NBC’s results from the full year suffered because it didn't have the Summer Olympics in August to count on or the Super Bowl, which it aired the year before.

Taking out the special sporting events, NBC actually landed in second place, a tie with Fox. Fox's decline was the result of continued audience erosion from “American Idol.”

Only CW made gains -- although small -- as a result of its new programs which looked to expand beyond its young women viewers of recent times .