• by Wayne Friedman , December 1, 2006

ABC should celebrate its November sweeps victory--prudently.

ABC won the November sweeps outright over CBS--the first time in seven years. The last time the Alphabet net hit No. 1, it was pounding its prime-time schedule with back-to-back nightly episodes of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire." This November, it averaged a Nielsen preliminary 4.1 ratings/11 share. CBS came in second with a 3.8.

That's the good news. The bad is that ABC is down 6%, versus last November's sweeps 4.4 number, when it tied with CBS. While ABC lost some steam in some arenas--a 20% decline for "Lost"--it had other major successes: "Grey's Anatomy" winning big on Thursday night, and rookie shows "Ugly Betty" and "Brothers & Sisters" rooting into their respective Thursday 8 p.m. and Sunday 10 p.m. time slots.

CBS landed in second, down 14% versus the November sweeps of 2005. CBS lost some ground on Monday with its comedies. On Thursdays so far, "Grey's Anatomy" has bested "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." CBS had no major home-run stories. Still, it touted some singles and doubles: "Criminal Minds" keeps gaining on "Lost." "Jericho" appears to have earned a solid place at 8 p.m. on Wednesday.

NBC made progress by coming in third--improving 12% to a 3.7/10, up from 3.3/9 last November. Shows like "Heroes" on Monday and "Sunday Night Football" help lift the network higher.

Fox, however, lost ground. Coming in at fourth place with a 2.9/8, Fox was down from a 3.2/9--a 9% decline versus the November sweeps of last year. But as usual, this isn't the whole story for Fox. Its big shows, "American Idol" and "24," have yet to breathe new life into the network. Those shows start in January.

The CW should be completing its first November sweeps slightly ahead of last year's WB average. (Final numbers were not released by press time.) The WB was at a 1.5 among 18-34 viewers last November.

For the season as a whole, The CW is up 7% over The WB's 18-34 numbers. But media-buying executives were expecting much more from the new network, which positioned itself as offering "the best of the best," in terms of top WB and UPN shows.

That said, the CW closed out the November sweeps in strong fashion. Its tandem of "America's Next Top Model" and "One Tree Hill" helped the network win Wednesday night among 18-34 viewers with a 3.0/9, the last night of the sweeps. That lead spilled over to the 18-49 demo, where it surprisingly earned a big 2.3/6, tying the CW for fourth with November sweeps winner ABC.

National advertisers, of course, could care less about the sweeps periods. But for 70% of the country's TV stations, it's crucial in setting local ad rates. Still, that 70% number is falling, due to increasing people meter usage at the local level, where stations and local advertisers can get viewer and demographic data year-round.