• by Wayne Friedman , May 26, 2006

For the TV season, the ratings race is all over--including the shouting and the singing.

Fox, as expected, won the season in the 18-49 demo with an average Nielsen Media Research 4.1 rating/11 share in the key adults 18-49 demo--thanks to the singing of the TV industry's most-watched TV show, "American Idol,"--which, remarkably, grew 15 percent this year over the year before.

Fox had the help of other shows--in particular, "24" and "House," which both witnessed big growth as well as good numbers for Fox's rookie show, "Prison Break."

For the last night of the season, "Idol" blew down the doors with a monstrous 13.8 rating in viewers 18-49 from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Overall, it pulled in 35.4 million viewers, who watched as Taylor Hicks crowned the new American Idol. This was 20 percent higher than last year's finale, which grabbed 29.4 million viewers who watched Carrie Underwood win.

Not surprisingly, Fox also won the May sweeps, with CBS leading the way in households and overall average viewers.

For the season, Fox proved a smidge better than ABC's 4.0/11, which continued to improve versus a year ago--the only network to do so, primarily because of its big three: "Desperate Housewives," "Grey's Anatomy," and "Lost." But unlike Fox, ABC didn't bring anything new to the lineup this year, as its highly touted "Commander In Chief" couldn't sustain its big Fall opening.

On the last night of the season, ABC--even in the face of "Idol"--had a big night for "Lost," where it grabbed a 7.5 rating among 18-49 viewers for its two-hour finale.

The season, which ran from September 15, 2005 to May 24, 2006, put CBS in third place at a 3.8/10 in adults 18-49.

But CBS could crow in other areas--its usual place at the top among average viewers at 12.6 million. ABC was second with 10.6 million. Fox was next with 10.1 million; NBC was fourth at 9.7 million. CBS also had an easy win in another broad-based viewing category--households. CBS averaged an 8.2/13, followed by ABC's 6.9/11, NBC's 6.4/10, and Fox's 6.2/10.

The surprise this year was Univision, which has a lot to talk about with advertisers this upfront because it is included in the Nielsen's mainstay, Nielsen Television Index. It came in fourth place in viewers 18-49--ahead of both The WB and UPN. The Spanish-language network averaged a 1.6/4--ahead of WB and UPN, which each grabbed a 1.3/3.

In terms of younger demo groups, such as 18-34, Fox again was the winner--with a 3.9/12, ahead of ABC's 3.2/10. The good news was that both Fox and ABC improved year-to-year in the category, whereas CBS and NBC each tumbled to 2.6/8 from a 2.9/9. UPN also grew a little in this category to a 1.4/4 and 940,000 viewers, from a 1.4/4 and 920,000 viewers the year before. The WB was down to 910,000 viewers in this demo, from 960,000 the year before.

A newcomer to NTI ratings, Univision boasted better numbers than both WB and UPN in this younger viewer category, with a 1.8/5 and 1,190,000 average viewers ages 18-34.