A David Letterman tribute among shows last week keeping CBS on top in prime time

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Another week, another audience win for CBS.

The Nielsen ratings company handed CBS its 11th straight prime-time win in viewership last week, with 13 of the Top 20 programs. Among those were the top three shows: “The Big Bang Theory” (seen by 14.6 million viewers), followed by “NCIS” and “NCIS: New Orleans.”

Longtime late-night star David Letterman notched a prime-time win of his own with a CBS retrospective looking back on his decades hosting the “Late Show” as he prepares to retire on May 20. “Letterman: A Life on TV” drew 8.1 million viewers to rank in 19th place.

Overall in prime time, CBS averaged 8.1 million viewers. ABC had 6.6 million viewers, while NBC had 5.4 million, Fox had 3.2 million, Univision had 2.4 million, the CW had 1.6 million, Telemundo had 1.4 million and ION Television had 1.1 million.

TNT was the week’s most popular cable network, averaging 2.88 million viewers in prime time. TBS followed with 1.64 million, while Fox News Channel took third place with 1.55 million.

Among evening newscasts, NBC’s “Nightly News” retained its leadership position from the week before with an audience of 7.57 million viewers, followed by ABC’s “World News Tonight,” seen by 7.47 million viewers. “The CBS Evening News” finished third with 6.54 million viewers.

For the week of May 4-10 the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 14.6 million; “NCIS,” CBS, 14.5 million; “NCIS: New Orleans,” CBS, 13.4 million; “Dancing With the Stars,” ABC, 12.4 million; “Dancing With the Stars-Results Show,” ABC, 10.3 million; “The Voice” (Monday), NBC, 9.9 million; “Criminal Minds,” CBS, 9.6 million; “The Good Wife,” CBS, 9.4 million; “Survivor,” CBS, 9.2 million; “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC, 9.0 million.

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ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co. CBS is owned by CBS Corp. CW is a joint venture of Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corp. Fox is owned by 21st Century Fox. NBC and Telemundo are owned by Comcast Corp. ION Television is owned by ION Media Networks.

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Online:

http://www.nielsen.com