• by Wayne Friedman , April 3, 2015

There is a calm before the TV storm: broadcast TV season finales start up in earnest next month. All this as NBC hopes for another TV broadcast season win among key 18-49 viewers.

Through 27 weeks -- and a tightening of the race among all the four big broadcast networks -- NBC is averaging a 2.6 rating among 18-49 viewers, in surveying Nielsen live program plus seven days of time-shifted data. This is two-tenths of a rating point ahead of CBS, which is averaging a 2.4 rating.

ABC is two-tenths of a rating point behind CBS -- at a 2.2. And right behind ABC is Fox, now at a 2.1 number. The CW network is at a 0.8 rating.

CBS is still dominant in overall average prime-time viewers at 11.5 million, followed by NBC at 9.1 million, ABC at 7.9 million, Fox at 6.1 million, and CW at 2.1 million.

On Thursday, heading into the Passover/Easter Holiday weekend, all networks dipped somewhat: CBS still maintained its lead with a Nielsen 1.9 rating /7 share among 18-49 viewers (8.9 million overall viewers). The week before -- with the NCAA college basketball playoffs -- CBS was at a 2.3 rating among 18-49 viewers.

For the most recent Thursday, ABC was at a 1.7/6 (6.2 million overall viewers) versus a 1.9 rating in 18-49 the week before; NBC, 1.0/4 (5.8 million overall viewers) against a 1.1 rating in the key demo the previous Thursday; Fox, 0.9/3 (3.9 million) versus a 1.1 18-49 rating; and CW, 0.2/1 (880,000 overall viewers), which was the same the week before among 18-49 viewers.