CBS closes the first half of the season with historic benchmarks in viewers and adults 18-49.
CBS Has the Largest First-Half Lead By Any Network in Viewers Since 1987-88
CBS Has 14 of the Top 20 Program in Viewers – The Most By Any Network Since the Advent of People Meters (1987)
Network is Also First in Adults 18-49 With Six of the Top 10 Shows, Its Most Since 1987-88
CBS concluded the first half of the 2011-2012 season as #1 in viewers and adults 18-49 with some historic benchmarks in both measures, according to Nielsen most current ratings through Jan. 1, Week 15 of the season.
2011-2012 Viewers Adults 18-49 Adults 25-54
CBS 12.10m 3.2 4.1
NBC 7.37m 2.5 3.0
ABC 8.70m 2.5 3.1
FOX 8.57m 3.1 3.5
2010-2011
CBS +2% +7% +2%
NBC -9% -11% -6%
ABC -1% n.c. n.c.
FOX +14% +15% +17%
Source: Nielsen NPM 9/19/11-1/1/12 vs. 9/20/10-1/2/11; most current data
First-Half Highlights in Viewers
With 12.10 million viewers, this is the best delivery by any network during the first half of the season since 2006-07 (5 years), when CBS averaged 12.33 million viewers.
CBS leads the second place network (ABC) by +3.40m viewers. This is the largest first-half lead for any network during the first half of the season since 1987-88, when NBC beat ABC by +4.8m viewers.
CBS has 14 of top 20 programs – more than any network since the advent of people meters in 1987.*
For the second consecutive year, CBS has 20 of the Top 30 shows, more than any network since people meters.
CBS has the most programs up from the year-ago time period (13).
First-Half Highlights in Adults 18-49
CBS leads the first half of 2011-12 season in adults 18-49 for the second consecutive year and six of the past eight years.
CBS’s 3.2 rating is the network’s best first-half performance since the 2007-08 season (4 years).
CBS has six of the Top 10 programs, twice as many as last year and its most since people meters.
CBS has 10 of the Top 20 programs, its most since people meters and more than any network since 1996-97 (NBC-12).*
CBS has the most programs up from the year-ago time period (14), five more than last year.
(source: CBS)
