'Idol' still most-watched but numbers are down

2013-01-30 11:44:01

Fox's "American Idol" had it customary 1-2 finish, despite a decrease in viewership from last year, while CBS was the most-watched network last week, even with three nights of reruns.

CBS had each of the seven most-watched scripted programs, topped by a rerun of "NCIS" which averaged 12.86 million viewers to finish third overall, and averaged 8.93 million viewers for its prime-time programming Jan. 21-27, according to live-plus-same-day figures released by Nielsen Tuesday.

Fox was second, averaging 7.12 million, followed by ABC, which averaged 5.7 million, and NBC, which averaged 5.4 million.

Wednesday's two-hour "American Idol" auditions episode was the week's most-watched program, averaging 16.07 million viewers, 18 percent less than the 19.67 million average for the hour-long Wednesday auditions episode during the second week of last season.

Thursday's hour-long "American Idol" auditions episode was second for the week, averaging 15.65 million viewers, 9 percent less than the 17.14 million average for the hour-long Thursday auditions episode during the second week of last season.

The premiere of the Fox serial killer drama "The Following" was second in its 9-10 p.m. time slot Jan. 21, behind the CBS comedies "2 Broke Girls" and "Mike & Molly" and 15th for the week, averaging 10.42 million viewers.

The 3.2 rating for "The Following" among viewers ages 18-49, the group ABC, Fox and NBC target and advertisers covet because it watches less television and is harder to reach, was tied for eighth for the week with two reruns of CBS' "The Big Bang Theory," and the second highest for a drama premiere this season, trailing only NBC's "Revolution," which averaged a 4.1 rating.

The premiere of the ABC cooking competition "The Taste" averaged 5.82 million viewers, finishing second in the 8-10 p.m. time slot Jan. 22 behind CBS' "NCIS" and "NCIS: Los Angeles," and 41st for the week.

However, it won the time slot with among viewers ages 18-49. Its 2.1 rating among the group tied for 31st with two episodes of the Univision telenovela "Amores Verdaderos" ("True Love") and "Fox UFC Saturday" and the highest for a premiere of an unscripted program during the official television season since the Fox singing competition "The X Factor" averaged a 4.4 rating on Sept. 22, 2011.

Ratings for premieres are often unrepresentative of how the series will fare because of the heavy promotion they receive and because viewers who are initially interested in the concept do not always return for future episodes.

Fox finished first for the week among viewers ages 18-49. The Wednesday and Thursday "American Idol" episodes were the two most-watched programs among the group, followed by the ABC comedy "Modern Family" and NBC's coverage of the Pro Bowl.


The week's most-watched cable program was the 10 p.m. Jan. 21 episode of the History documentary series "Pawn Stars," which averaged 4.67 million viewers, 61st for the week among all broadcast and cable programs. The 10:31 p.m. episode which followed it was second for the week among cable programs and 62nd overall, averaging 4.58 million.

The professional wrestling program "WWE Raw," the drama "Suits" and reruns of "NCIS" made USA Network was the most-watched cable network in prime time for the second consecutive week, averaging 2.8 million viewers.

The week's most-watched Spanish-language program was the Thursday episode of "Amores Verdaderos", which averaged 5.22 million viewers to finish 51st among all prime-time broadcast and cable programs.

As usual, Univision was the most-watched Spanish-language network, averaging 3.86 million viewers for its prime-time programming.

Telemundo was second, averaging 1.41 million viewers, followed by UniMas, formerly known as TeleFutura, which averaged 700,000, Estrella TV, which averaged 230,000, Azteca America, which averaged 150,000 and MundoFox, which averaged 60,000.

The "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams" was the most-watched network nightly newscast for the 176th consecutive week and 223rd time in the past 224 weeks, averaging 9.22 million viewers.

ABC's "World News with Diane Sawyer" was second, averaging 8.26 million. The "CBS Evening News" was third for the 331st consecutive week and 86th since Scott Pelley became anchor, averaging 7.23 million.


Prime-time television viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Jan. 21-27. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership for the week.

1. "American Idol" (Wednesday), Fox, 16.07 million viewers

2. "American Idol" (Thursday), Fox, 15.65 million viewers

3. "NCIS," CBS, 12.86 million viewers

4. Pro Bowl, NBC, 12.16 million viewers

5. "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 11.93 million viewers

6. "Criminal Minds," CBS, 11.84 million viewers

7. "60 Minutes," CBS, 11.65 million viewers

8. "2 Broke Girls," CBS, 11.56 million viewers

9. "The Big Bang Theory" (Thursday), CBS, 11.49 million viewers

10. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 11.46 million viewers

11. "Mike & Molly," CBS, 10.89 million viewers

12. "Modern Family," ABC, 10.83 million viewers

13. "The Big Bang Theory" (Monday), CBS, 10.50 million viewers

14. "The Mentalist," CBS, 10.50 million viewers

15. "The Following," Fox, 10.42 million viewers

16. "How I Met Your Mother," CBS, 10.07 million viewers

17. "Person of Interest," CBS, 10.01 million viewers

18. "Hawaii Five-0," CBS, 9.85 million viewers

19. "The Good Wife," CBS, 9.35 million viewers

20. Pro Bowl Pregame Show, NBC, 9.25 million viewers

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