CBS series lead the way in ratings win; NBA playoffs lift ABC to second place

CBS had seven of the eight highest-rated programs for the week, led by “60 Minutes,” to finish first in the network race for the fifth consecutive week, eighth time in nine weeks and 10th time in 12 weeks. The first-place finish was the third for “60 Minutes” in the last five weeks. CBS’ coverage of the NCAA men’s Final Four accounted for the other two first-place finishes during that span.

For a broadcast consisting of an interview with author David Grann and a double-length segment on Google’s advancements in artificial intelligence, “60 Minutes” averaged 7.376 million viewers. It was the only prime-time program between April 10 and Sunday to average more than 7 million viewers, according to live-plus-same-day figures released by Nielsen Tuesday.

CBS had five of the six other programs to top 6 million viewers — “Young Sheldon” (6.883 million), “FBI” (6.837 million), “NCIS” (6.832 million), “The Equalizer” (6.527 million) and “Ghosts” (6.257 million) — and averaged 4.5 million viewers for the week.

ABC’s coverage of the Sacramento Kings’ 126-123 victory over the Golden State Warriors in Game 1 of their NBA Western Conference first-round series Saturday, which averaged 6.257 million viewers, had the biggest audience of any program not on CBS, tying the supernatural comedy “Ghosts” for sixth.

The game had the biggest audience for any Saturday night NBA opening playoff game on ABC.

NBA playoffs coverage enabled ABC to end its four-week post-Oscars streak of third-place finishes among the broadcast networks as it landed in second, averaging 3.44 million viewers. Its top-ranked non-NBA program was the Sunday edition of “American Idol,” ninth for the week, averaging 5.35 million viewers.

NBC dropped to third following four consecutive second-place finishes, averaging 2.5 million viewers for a schedule that included a recap show of “The Voice” and reruns of its three Chicago series and three “Law & Order” series.

“The Voice” was NBC’s ratings leader, averaging 4.022 million viewers, 22nd among the week’s broadcast and cable programs.

Fox averaged 1.82 million viewers for its programming. The procedural drama “9-1-1” was its top show, averaging 4.477 million viewers, 19th for the week. Each of the four original episodes of “9-1-1” to air in 2023 have led Fox’s rankings.

The CW averaged 360,000 viewers for its programming. The superhero drama “Superman & Lois” was its biggest draw for the fourth time in the five weeks it has aired this season, averaging 649,000 viewers, tying for 147th among broadcast programs with the Friday episode of the 1962-71 CBS comedy “The Beverly Hillbillies” on MeTV.

The top 20 prime-time programs consisted of “60 Minutes”; 12 CBS scripted programs and its alternative series “Survivor”; three ABC alternative programs — the April 10 and Sunday editions of “American Idol” and “America’s Funniest Home Videos”; two NBA playoff games — one each on ABC and TNT; and Fox’s “9-1-1.”

The top-ranked cable program was TNT’s coverage of the Clippers’ 115-110 victory over the Phoenix Suns in Game 1 of their NBA Western Conference first-round series Sunday, which averaged 5.035 million viewers, 12th overall.

Fox News Channel won the cable network race for the third consecutive week and 11th time in 12 weeks, averaging 2.09 million viewers. TNT was second, averaging 1.711 million, and MSNBC third, averaging 1.252 million. ESPN was the only other cable network to average more than 1 million viewers for its prime-time programming, averaging 1.155 million.

The cable prime-time top 20 consisted of four NBA playoff games on TNT; four NBA Play-In Tournament games, two each on ESPN and TNT; 10 Fox News Channel weeknight political talk shows (five broadcasts of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” four of “Hannity” and one of “The Ingraham Angle”); History’s “The Curse of Oak Island”; and the MSNBC news and opinion program “The Rachel Maddow Show.”

“The Night Agent” was Netflix’s most-streamed title for the fourth consecutive week, with viewers watching the 10-episode action thriller for 90.04 million hours in the third full week it was available, increasing its total since release to 605.62 million hours, sixth on the all-time list, which is based on viewership during the first 28 days of release.

The Thai film “Hunger,” about a private chef team, was Netflix’s most popular movie, despite not being available in the United States, with 43.58 million viewing hours in its first full week of release.

Netflix’s top English-language film was “The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die,” with viewers watching the action-adventure film based on the series “The Last Kingdom” for 35.5 million hours in its first three days of release.