• by Wayne Friedman , March 5, 2012

Which TV show is No. 1 these days in broadcast TV? Increasingly, it depends on your point of view: popularity, advertising-wise, or something in between.

Looking at pure "popularity" of broadcast TV shows -- not where TV advertisers place their bets -- the highest-rated TV show among all TV viewers for the week of February 13 was CBS' "NCIS."

In terms of live viewing and seven days time-shifted viewing (L7), "NCIS" pulled in 23 million viewers. Fox's "American Idol" Wednesday performance show grabbed 21.4 million; the "Idol" Thursday results show, 19.9 million. CBS' "Big Bang Theory" was next at 19.0 million, followed by "NCIS: Los Angeles" at 18.9 million.

Somewhat closer to the viewers that TV advertisers want most -- 18-49 viewers -- "Modern Family" has been the champ, with a 7.4 live-plus-seven-day rating of time-shifted viewing (L7) average.

Wednesday's "American Idol" numbers were second to "Family" when it came to overall "popularity" of the L7 data among 18-49 viewers, at a 7.2 rating. CBS' "Big Bang Theory" came in third place in the L7 popularity contest among 18-49 viewers with a 6.7 rating. The "Idol" lesser-rated results show was just behind "Big Bang Theory" in L7 with a 6.5 rating.

But that's not the only criteria to examine.

In terms of live-plus-same-day average rating among 18-49 viewers -- a metric followed by TV marketers -- the Wednesday performance show of "American Idol" grabbed the best numbers with a 6.1 rating, followed by NBC's "The Voice" at a 6.0. "Bang" and "Idol" (Thursday) were next, in a tie for a 5.1 rating, followed by "Modern Family" at a 4.7 and "Glee" at 4.4. These were followed by two more CBS shows, "NCIS" and "Two and a Half Men," each at a 3.9 rating.

While these other measures are still "indicators" for TV advertisers, TV producers and programming, the only ratings that matter are commercial ratings plus three days of time-shifted viewing, the currency of their media deals.