• by Wayne Friedman , May 12, 2023

Amid continued linear TV declines, Fox Corp. and CBS claim top viewing results for the 2022-2023 TV season -- for traditional and traditional plus streaming viewing.

Looking at the traditional TV adults 18-49 measure, the Fox Television Network, says it was first among the major broadcast networks -- with a Nielsen prime-time average rating of 1.1, followed by NBC with 0.9, CBS at 0.8, and ABC with an 0.7.

Fox's results were largely attributable to its airing of the Super Bowl in February -- which, according to a recently updated number for Nielsen, earned 115.1 million viewers. That was a new record for the The Super Bowl, which remains the top-rated individual TV program every year.

For the 2021-2022 TV season, NBC had the strongest results among 18-49 viewers with a 1.2 rating, followed by Fox with 1.1; CBS at 0.8; and ABC with 0.7.

When looking at overall prime-time viewership for persons two years and older, live program-plus-seven days of time-shifted viewing (September 19, 2022-April 30, 2023), CBS came in first, pulling in 5.98 million viewers, followed by NBC with 5.40 million; Fox, 4.68 million; ABC, 4.10 million; and CW, with 562,000.

These results were down across the board -- except for Fox, which had flat viewing versus a year ago -- with CBS at 6.35 million; NBC, 6.25 million; Fox, 4.68 million, and ABC, 4.19 million.

NBC aired the Super Bowl in 2022.

CBS says a better comparison is found in an analysis of the total time viewed across all its platforms -- CBS Television Network, as well as streaming/digital platforms including Paramount+ Pluto TV, and CBS App.

Over the same season-long period, CBS amassed a total day 827.7 billion minutes -- the highest among all TV-based media companies as well as digital-first streamers.

CBS says these results come from Nielsen as well as internal company data for persons ages two years and older, across live program-plus-35 days of time-shifted viewing. It also includes Nielsen Content Ratings for streaming viewing. CBS says it edged out Netflix, which had 827.1 million.

CBS says this also tops other TV-based companies and their streaming/digital platforms when it comes to Nielsen Live program plus 35-day viewing and Nielsen Content Ratings: NBC (494.9 billion); ABC (452.9 billion); and Fox (369.8 million).