NBC Is No. 1 In Prime Time, First Time In A Decade


With three nights left in the 2013-2014 broadcast year, NBC will win the 2013-2014 prime-time season -- its first seasonal win in 10 years.

The Sochi Olympics contributed heavily to the victory, as well as regular series “Sunday Night Football” and “The Voice,” which lifted NBC’s seasonal rating 13% to a Nielsen 2.7 live-plus-same-day program rating among 18-49 viewers -- up from a 2.4 rating a year ago.

NBC says that without the Sochi Olympics, it still comes out on top of all networks.

Fox will come in at second place with a 2.5 rating, the same as a year ago. Fox reaped big benefits from the Super Bowl in February of this year. CBS was in third place with a 2.4, down 17% from the year before. CBS -- which won the 18-49 viewer race a year ago -- was up against unfavorable comparisons; it had the Super Bowl in 2013. ABC was down 5% to a 2.1 number.

As it has for many years, CBS won the race in overall prime-time viewers -- averaging some 10.7 million, down 9% from a year ago. NBC was next at 9.3 million, rocketing up 33%. ABC was at 7.6 million, slipping 3%; and Fox was at 7.4 million, up 4%.

When taking out all sports -- “Sunday Night Football,” Sochi Olympics, the Super Bowl, and any prime-time overruns on Sunday night from afternoon games -- CBS earned a 2.3 rating among 18-49 viewers; NBC and ABC each had a 2.2 number; and Fox had a 2.0 rating.

ABC is finishing the season strong. Through three weeks and five days of the May sweeps period, ABC is on track to win the May period for the first time since 2000, earning a 1.7 rating/5 share. CBS is at a 1.5/5, followed by NBC at a 1.4/5, Fox with a 1.3/4; Univision at a 1.1/4, and CW with a 0.5/2.

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