NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� In a designation that feels a little less significant every year, CBS has finished the 2020-21 television season as the nation's most-watched television network for the 13th consecutive time.
CBS averaged 6.28 million prime time viewers in the Nielsen company's measurement of live-plus-seven viewing, which includes everyone who watched a particular program live and within the next week. CBS has won 18 of the last 19 years, the one-time exception being Fox when 鈥淎merican Idol鈥� dominated TV.
Increasingly, however, the measurement doesn't reflect how people experience television, because it excludes streaming services and binging of programs outside of their first-week window.
Even though the pandemic kept more people at home, CBS' prime-time viewership was down 18% from the previous year, as was second-place NBC's. ABC was down 14% and Fox lost 33% of its audience, Nielsen said.
NBC's autumn telecasts of 鈥淪unday Night Football鈥� finished as the most-watched individual program for the 10th straight year.
The CBS drama 鈥淣CIS,鈥� which aired its first episode in September 2003, was the most popular scripted show, averaging 12.5 million viewers per week. It has been TV's most popular drama for 11 of the last 12 years, a streak interrupted only by NBC's 鈥淭his is Us.鈥�
In a positive sign for the network, its second most popular show was the rookie drama 鈥淭he Equalizer,鈥� starring Queen Latifah.
Only one of the 35 most-watched programs of the season 鈥� CBS' 鈥淵oung Sheldon鈥� 鈥� was a comedy, Nielsen said.
NBC's three most popular scripted programs were the three Chicago-set dramas from veteran producer Dick Wolf. For Fox, the most popular shows were the Ryan Murphy-produced drama 鈥�911鈥� and its spinoff, 鈥�911: Lone Star.鈥�
ABC's favorite was the 21st most popular show on the list, 鈥淕rey's Anatomy.鈥�
NBC was the most popular network in prime time last week, averaging 4 million viewers in live viewing. CBS had 3.6 million, Fox had 3 million, ABC had 2.9 million, Univision had 1.5 million, Ion Television had 970,000 and Telemundo had 930,000.
TNT was the most popular cable network with its NBA playoff coverage, averaging 2.41 million viewers last week. Fox News Channel had 1.91 million, MSNBC had 1.31 million, HGTV had 1.22 million and ESPN had 995,000.
ABC's 鈥淲orld News Tonight鈥� won the evening news ratings race, averaging 7.4 million viewers last week. NBC's 鈥淣ightly News鈥� had 6.4 million and the 鈥淐BS Evening News鈥� had 4.8 million.
The 20 most popular shows for the week of May 24-30, their networks and viewerships:
1. 鈥淣CIS,鈥� CBS, 8.96 million.
2. 鈥淐hicago Fire,鈥� NBC, 7.263 million.
3. 鈥淐hicago Med,鈥� NBC, 7.259 million.
4. 鈥淔BI,鈥� CBS, 7.08 million.
5. 鈥淭he Voice鈥� (Tuesday), NBC, 6.73 million.
6. 鈥淭he Voice鈥� (Monday), NBC, 6.55 million.
7. 鈥�911,鈥� Fox, 6.35 million.
8. 鈥淐hicago PD,鈥� NBC, 6.33 million.
9. 鈥�60 Minutes,鈥� CBS, 6.09 million.
10. 鈥淔BI: Most Wanted,鈥� CBS, 5.79 million.
11. 鈥淭he Masked Singer,鈥� Fox, 5.51 million.
12. 鈥�911: Lone Star,鈥� Fox, 5.21 million.
13. 鈥淭his is Us,鈥� NBC, 5.14 million.
14. 鈥淪tation 19,鈥� ABC, 4.59 million.
15. 鈥淟aw & Order: SVU,鈥� NBC, 4.38 million.
16. 鈥淕rey's Anatomy,鈥� ABC, 4.33 million.
17. 鈥淵oung Sheldon,鈥� CBS, 4.25 million.
18. 鈥淯nited States of Al,鈥� CBS, 4.06 million.
19. 鈥淟aw & Order: Organized Crime,鈥� NBC, 4.04 million.
20. 鈥淭he Good Doctor,鈥� ABC, 4.03 million.
David Bauder, The Associated Press
