CBS declares television season victory with weeks to go

NEW YORK (AP) — The traditional broadcast television season doesn’t end until later this month, but that hasn’t stopped CBS from declaring victory.

CBS issued a statement on Tuesday saying it would end the 2021-22 season as the most-watched television network in prime-time for the 14th straight time, and 19th time out of the past 20, according to figures provided by the Nielsen company.

The early victory dance coincided with CBS’ parent company, Paramount Global, announcing its earnings on Tuesday. Although CBS’ lead over second-place NBC (6.35 million to 6.25 million) isn’t large, there was no pushback from NBC. Fox is currently third and ABC fourth.

CBS said that “NCIS” will end the season as the most-watched television drama for the 12th time in 13 years. “Young Sheldon” is the most popular comedy.

“A winning streak of this scale is quite unprecedented in the history of media, linear or digital,” said Radha Subramanyam, CBS’ chief research and analytics officer.

NBC, which aired the Super Bowl and Winter Olympics this season, said it will finish first among the advertiser-friendly demographic of 18-to-49-year-old viewers.

CBS won last week in prime time, averaging 4.4 million viewers. ABC had 3.3 million, NBC had 2.8 million, Fox had 2 million, Univision had 1.4 million, Ion Television had 1 million and Telemundo averaged 910,000.

Fox News Channel was the most popular cable network in prime time, averaging 2.29 million viewers. TNT had 2.13 million, ESPN had 1.55 million, MSNBC had 1.14 million and HGTV had 1.03 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” won the evening news ratings race with an average of 7.2 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 6.6 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 4.6 million.

For the week of April 25-May 1, the top 20 prime-time programs, their networks and viewerships:

1. “FBI,” CBS, 7.56 million.

2. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 7.53 million.

3. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 6.91 million.

4. “American Idol” (Sunday), ABC, 6.57 million.

5. “FBI: International,” CBS, 6.1 million.

6. “American Idol” (Monday), ABC, 5.823 million.

7. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 5.815 million.

8. “Survivor,” CBS, 5.72 million.

9. “FBI: Most Wanted,” CBS, 5.44 million.

10. “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” ABC, 5.36 million.

11. “NCIS: Los Angeles” (Sunday, 8 p.m.), CBS, 5.21 million.

12. “NCIS: Los Angeles” (Sunday, 9 p.m.), CBS, 5.19 million.

13. “911,” Fox, 5.08 million.

14. “This is Us,” NBC, 4.93 million.

15. “Law & Order: SVU,” NBC, 4.89 million.

16. “Magnum, P.I., CBS, 4.81 million.

17. “United States of Al,” CBS, 4.62 million.

18. “911: Lone Star,” Fox, 4.58 million.

19. “NFL Draft, Round 1,” ESPN, 4.44 million.

20. “The Price is Right,” CBS, 4.37 million.