• by Wayne Friedman , April 18, 2017

Although TV viewing generally continues to erode, NBC is in a good position to end the season as the No. 1 prime-time network among the key viewers that advertisers want most.

NBC is averaging a Nielsen 2.2 rating/8 share among 18-49 viewers for Nielsen live program-plus seven-day time-shifted viewing plus the most current two weeks of live program-plus-same day viewing.

For NBC, this is virtually flat versus the same period a year ago, when it came in at 2.2/7.

Fox is next at 2.0/7 -- largely due to airing the Super Bowl this season -- scoring virtually the same numbers versus a year ago, when it came in at 2.0/7.

CBS, which had the Super Bowl in 2016, is next at 1.9/7 -- down from a 2.4/8. ABC is down with a 1.6/6 from last year's 1.8/6. The CW came in at 0.7/2 -- down from 0.8/3 a year ago -- while Univision, at 0.6/2, is down from a 0.8/3 and Telemundo, at 0.6/2, is the same as a year ago.

CBS remains No. 1 among all viewers at 9.86 million, down from 11.2 million. NBC is next at 8.38 million, down slightly from 8.35 million, while ABC scored 6.28 million -- down from 6.8 million a year ago. Fox averaged 6.26 million, up from 6.1 million a year ago.

The CW came in at 1.84 million, down from 1.95 million a year ago. Univision also came in at 1.84 million, down from 2.1 million; while Telemundo tallied 1.59 million, up from its 1.43 million.

The 2016-2017 TV primetime broadcast season ends in late May.