CBS claims season victory in total viewers

With one night remaining to be tallied in the May Sweep, CBS has claimed victory for Persons 2+ in the 2008-2009 television season and a tie with Fox for the 25-54 crown. Fox, of course, is set to win the 18-49 crown.

As we indicated yesterday, Fox and CBS pretty much had their victories locked up heading into the final days of the season.

CBS is trumpeting that it is the only network to gain year-over-year in the ratings in the major demos. OK, that’s looking only at the English-language networks. We would also note, though, that Fox had the Super Bowl last year, so that accounts for some of its decline. [Editor's note: This has been corrected from an earlier version which said CBS had the Super Bowl this year. It was NBC.]

While Fox’s “American Idol” remains the #1 show on television, CBS proudly declared its domination of scripted programming, with “CSI” as the #1 drama, “Two and a Half Men” as the #1 comedy and “The Mentalist” as the highest rated new show.

The chart below shows CBS’ calculation of the Nielsen ratings from September 22, 2008 through May 17, 2009.

2008-2009 Television Season

Notes: Persons 2+ is stated in millions of viewers; other demos are Rating/Share.
Source: CBS analysis of data from The Nielsen Company

Tweet