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CBS, ’60 Minutes’ again receive best TV ratings
The Industry Apr 26, 2023
| Photo courtesy of Glenn Carstens-Peters/Unsplash
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By Steven Herbert
CBS had each of the week’s five most-watched television programs, again topped by “60 Minutes,” to finish first in the network race for the sixth consecutive week, according to live-plus-same-day figures released by Nielsen Tuesday.
“60 Minutes” averaged 7.414 million viewers for a TV broadcast consisting of a report from Syria on attacks on health care providers and infrastructure after catastrophic earthquakes devastated the war-torn northwest region; an interview with Ray Epps — an Arizona man who participated in the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but did not enter the building and has become the center of a conspiracy theory; and a profile of actor Nicolas Cage.
The CBS news magazine was the only prime-time program between April 17 and Sunday to average more than 7 million viewers. It has finished first four of the past six weeks. CBS’ coverage of the NCAA men’s Final Four accounted for the other two first-place finishes during that span.
CBS had both of the other programs to top 6 million viewers — “FBI,” which averaged 6.764 million viewers, and “The Equalizer,” which averaged 6.496 million viewers following “60 Minutes.”
CBS also had the most-watched program beginning at 10 p.m. — “Blue Bloods,” fourth for the week, averaging 5.987 million viewers; the most-watched first-season program — “Fire Country,” fifth averaging 5.815 million; and the most-watched comedy — “The Neighborhood,” 14th averaging 4.838 million viewers.
The Sunday edition of ABC’s “American Idol” was the most-watched non- CBS program, finishing sixth, averaging 5.37 million viewers. With NBC again airing repeats of its “Chicago” series, “The Voice” was its most- watched program for the second consecutive week, finishing ninth, averaging 5.356 million viewers.
The most-watched prime-time sporting event — and most-watched cable program — was TNT’s coverage of the Sacramento Kings’ 114-106 victory over the Golden State Warriors in Game 2 of their NBA Western Conference first-round series April 17, which averaged 4.322 million viewers, 18th for the week.
CBS averaged 4.33 million to finish first for the ninth time in 10 weeks and 11th time in 13. The only times CBS has not finished first in the past 13 weeks were the weeks of Feb. 6-13, when Fox aired Super Bowl LVII, and March 6-12, when ABC aired the Oscars.
ABC was second for the second consecutive week following four consecutive third-place finishes, averaging 3.17 million. NBC was third among the broadcast networks for the second consecutive week after four consecutive second-place finishes, averaging 2.57 million viewers for a schedule that also included reruns of its three “Law & Order” series.
Fox averaged 1.89 million viewers for its 15 hours of prime-time programming. The procedural drama “9-1-1” was its most-watched program, averaging 4.466 million viewers, 16th for the week. Each of the five original episodes of “9-1-1” to air in 2023 have been Fox’s most-watched prime-time program of the week.
The CW averaged 330,000 viewers for its 14 hours of programming. Its most-watched program was the 9 p.m. Friday episode of the comedy improv series, “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” which averaged 524,000 viewers, 180th among broadcast programs, one spot below the 9:30 p.m. Friday episode of the 1965-71 CBS comedy, “Green Acres,” on MeTV, which averaged 531,000.
The 20 most-watched prime-time programs consisted of “60 Minutes”; 11 CBS scripted programs and its alternative series “Survivor”; three ABC alternative programs — the April 17 and Sunday editions of “American Idol” and “America’s Funniest Home Videos; two NBA playoff games — one each on TNT and ESPN; “The Voice” and “9-1-1.”
NBA playoff coverage made TNT the most-watched cable network, averaging 2.801 million viewers. Fox News Channel averaged 2.058 million viewers to finish second after three consecutive first-place finishes and 11 the previous 12 weeks. ESPN was third, averaging 1.499 million. MSNBC was the other cable network to average more than 1 million viewers for its prime-time programming, averaging 1.111 million.
The cable prime-time top 20 consisted of 12 NBA playoff games — 10 on TNT and two on ESPN; and eight Fox News Channel weeknight political talk shows — five broadcasts of “Tucker Carlson Tonight” and three of “Hannity.”
“The Diplomat” edged “The Night Agent” to be Netflix’s most- watched title. The eight episodes of “The Diplomat” had 57.48 million viewing hours in their first four days of release. “The Night Agent” had 56.65 million viewing hours in its fifth week of release, to finish second after four consecutive first-place finishes.
The 10-episode action thriller moved one spot to fifth on the all-time list with 626.97 million hours during its first 28 days of release.
“The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die,” was Netflix’s most-watched film with viewers watching the action-adventure film based on the series “The Last Kingdom,” for 25.7 million hours in its first full week of release, 27.6% less than the 35.5 million hours watched the previous week when it was available for three days.
The most-watched Spanish-language program was the Latin America Music Awards which averaged a combined 2.09 million viewers on Univision and UniMas, 53rd among broadcast programs. Its overall ranking was not available.
Univision was the most-watched Spanish-language network for the 37th consecutive week and 175th time in 177 weeks, averaging 1.21 million viewers. Telemundo was second, averaging 990,000 viewers, followed by UniMas (390,000) and Estrella TV (90,000).
ABC’s “World News Tonight with David Muir” was the most-watched nightly newscast for 176th time in 177 weeks and 228th time in 230 weeks, averaging 7.447 million viewers.
“NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” was second, averaging 6.278 million viewers. The “CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell” was third, averaging 4.546 million viewers.
The week’s 10 most-watched prime-time programs were CBS’ “60 Minutes,” “FBI,” “The Equalizer,” “Blue Bloods” and “Fire Country”; the Sunday broadcast of ABC’s “American Idol”; CBS’ “S.W.A.T”; NBC’s “The Voice”; CBS’ “Survivor” and “FBI: International.”
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