• by Wayne Friedman , May 24, 2013

The four major networks were in a virtual tie for the last month of the 2012-2013 TV season.

CBS, Fox, and ABC all finished with a Nielsen live-plus-same-day 1.8 rating/5 share among 18-49 viewers, with NBC just a tick behind at a 1.7/5.

Except for NBC -- which gained 6% over last May's 2012 results from a 1.6 rating -- all the networks lost ground. CBS was down 10% from a 2.0 rating, while  ABC was off 14% from a 2.1 number. Fox dropped the most -- down 25% from a 2.4. Fox was the leader last May, as well as for the season overall among 18-49 viewers.

Similar results were seen with total viewers. CBS was off 8% to 8.7 million viewers. ABC was also down 8% to 7.1 million viewers, NBC improved 2% to 5.46 million viewers, and Fox gave back 27% to 5.43 million viewers.

Fox, in particular, lost major ground in May and for the season overall thanks to "American Idol," its big multinight, multiweek show -- which dominated TV broadcast ratings for the last decade. For the season, "Idol" posted a Nielsen 3.9 rating for its big Wednesday performance show, down from a 5.4 rating. Its Thursday results show was at a 3.7, down from a 4.7 a year ago.

The top show of the season was NBC's "Sunday Night Football" with a 7.84 rating among 18-49 viewers and 20.9 million viewers overall. The top 18-49 viewer-rated entertainment show was CBS' "Big Bang Theory" with a 4.75 number. CBS' "NCIS" was the best entertainment show for all viewers averaging 18.5 million.

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