Primetime Ratings: NBC Wins Against Repeats

NBC grabbed the broadcast ratings title Monday, the networks up against tight competition from the NCAA basketball championship on TNT, TBS and truTV. The Peacock posted a 2.1 score in viewers 18-49, per the Nielsen overnights, along with a 7 share. ABC had a 1.5/5, CBS a 1.1/4, Fox a 0.6/2 and The CW a 0.2/1.

CBS, a partner in the NCAA championship with Turner, put up repeats throughout prime, as did Fox and The CW.

NBC had The Voice at 2.4, down 14%, then Blindspot was down 13% at 1.4.  

ABC aired Dancing With the Stars at a flat 1.7 and Castle was up 9% to 1.2.  

The basketball game went down to the wire, with Villanova edging out North Carolina. The title game averaged 17.8 million total viewers and a 13.2 household rating, per the Nielsen fast nationals, the rating down 18% from last year’s extraordinarily well viewed final.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.