• by Wayne Friedman , June 4, 2008

The traditional TV season for the TV networks didn't exactly follow their Internet viewing and user patterns.

ABC had the biggest market share in the 2007-2008 season in terms of most visits by users to their abc.com site--with a 27.14% share. NBC was in hot pursuit with a 27.01% share for nbc.com, according to U.K.-based Internet research company, Hitwise.

But as with viewing from the traditional TV season, both networks were significantly down from the previous season--ABC off 9% from last year's market share, and NBC down 18% from its mark of a year ago.

Going against the grain of their respective traditional TV season viewing, CBS and its sister network CW were up versus a year ago. CBS improved a whopping 41% to come in third place with a 21.51% share. The CW--which lost almost 20% of its traditional TV viewing this past season--improved its Internet marketplace position with a 6.61% share.

Fox paced up about the same levels as its traditional TV viewing--a 6% gain, now at 17.54%. Fox was in first place among 18-49 viewers again, its fourth season in a row, and, for the first time, No. 1 among overall viewers.

But Fox only commands fourth place in the Internet space, which includes related Web sites, americanidol.com, amw.com, familyguy.com, cops.com, thelot.com and thesimpsons.com. as well as fox.com. On the Internet, Fox slipped from third place in market share of a year ago.

As far as time spent on the Internet, CBS is now in the lead with an average of 10 minutes and 24 seconds--a gain of 39% from a year ago. NBC is right behind at 10:07, dropping 12% from a year ago.

The CW, ABC and Fox made improvements in this category. CW now is in third place at 9:42; ABC is next at 8:21; and then Fox at 6:43. MyNetwork TV dropped 42% from a year ago with the average time spent now at 4:10.

While Fox didn't land in first place in any of the overall network categories, its "American Idol" held the top place among individual programs with 14.01% market share. NBC's "Deal or No Deal" was the second best here at 13.33%. "Idol" and "Deal" dominated in this category.

The next-biggest shows were distant also-rans: ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" came in third (7.33%); CBS' "Survivor: Micronesia" was next (4.78%); Fox's "America's Most Wanted" (3.86%); NBC's "Heroes" (2.98%); ABC's "Lost" (2.67%); NBC's "The Biggest Loser" (2.22%); NBC's "The Office (2.07%); and ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" (1.81%).