It’s still early in the TV season, but CBS is shaping up as the network to beat. For the second straight week, the network won the prime-time ratings race in total viewers and in the advertiser-friendly young-adult demographics.
For the week ending Sunday, CBS was No. 1 on five nights, according to figures published Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research. The network had half of the top 10 shows, including the most-watched program with Thursday’s ninth-season premiere of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” (23.5 million viewers). “CSI” also beat ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” among young adults (18- to 49-year-olds) for the first time since the programs began head-to-head competition two years ago.
Overall, CBS led with a prime-time average of 11 million viewers, trailed by ABC (9.6 million), Fox (7.9 million) and NBC (7 million).
ABC drew strength from “Dancing With the Stars,” but its Thursday sci-fi cop drama “Life on Mars” (11.3 million) had to split the audience with CBS’ similarly themed “Eleventh Hour” (11.4 million).
NBC continued to struggle for traction, although a dollop of good news came from the comedy premiere of “Kath & Kim” (7.5 million), which built on the low numbers for “My Name Is Earl.”
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Fox’s numbers were aided by a Sunday football overrun. On basic cable, ESPN led the way with Monday’s NFL matchup between the Vikings and the Saints with 11 million viewers, which would have ranked it 18th for the week among programs on the broadcast networks.