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Nielsen ratings

Nielsens: CBS wins most viewers in TV season

Gary Levin
USA TODAY
Jaimie Alexander, left, and Marianne Jean-Baptiste star in NBC's 'Blindspot,' TV's top-rated new drama of the 2015-16 season.

The TV season officially ends Wednesday, but with a comfortable margin of victory CBS is claiming the top prize.

The network will finish 2015-16 in first place for the eighth year in a row, and also wins the young-adult prize for the second time in the last four years.

Through Sunday, CBS is averaging 10.9 million viewers, nearly three million ahead of No. 2 NBC, with 8.1 million. ABC will finish third, with 6.8 million, followed by Fox (5.8 million) and CW (2 million). All except Fox are down from last season, as viewership continues to splinter among a wider array of choices on cable and streaming services. CBS dipped 2% (even though it aired February's Super Bowl), NBC is down 5%, and ABC fell a big 14%.  Fox is flat, and CW dropped 7%.

CBS again claimed TV's most-watched drama (NCIS) and comedy (The Big Bang Theory), each averaging more than 20 million viewers when 7-day delayed viewing is counted. It also had the top new comedy with Life in Pieces (10.5 million), helped by Big Bang's Thursday lead-in.

NBC, which improved its ranking — without an Olympics or Super Bowl —  had four of the top five new series, including Little Big Shots, Blindspot and Shades of Blue.  It also again claimed the top-rated program with Sunday Night Football.

Fox had the top young-adult series in Empire, and saw a 10% bump for the final season of American Idol, which ended its 15-year run last month. And ABC, the only Big 4 network with no NFL telecasts, has won or tied among young adults in each of the last several weeks.

The preliminary Nielsen averages don't include the last three days of season finales, including Dancing with the Star sand The Voice, but they won't be enough to affect the rankings or averages. Final data, due in June, will include 7-day DVR and 3-day on-demand viewing for the final weeks of the season. 

Top new series, 2015-16 season

Total viewers:

  1. Little Big Shots (NBC)  12.4 million
  2. Blindspot (NBC)           11.0
  3. Life in Pieces (CBS)     10.5
  4. Code Black (CBS)        10.2
  5. Shades of Blue (NBC)    9.9

Adults ages 18-49:

  1. Blindspot (NBC)            4.0 million
  2. Life in Pieces (CBS)      3.4
  3. Quantico (ABC)             3.2
  4. Supergirl (CBS)             3.0
  5. Lucifer (Fox)                 3.1

Source: Nielsen

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