ABC Danced To Top Of Ratings Last Week

NEW YORK (AP) – ABC stepped to an unaccustomed audience victory last week, lifted by “Dancing With the Stars,” whose Monday edition was seen by nearly 22.4 million viewers to become the week’s most-watched show.

Excluding the February week of the Oscarcast, ABC scored its first win in viewership in almost a year, according to Nielsen Co. figures released today. ABC averaged 8.7 million viewers overall in primetime (with a 5.5 household rating, 9 share).

Close behind was CBS with an average 8.4 million viewers (5.3 rating, 9 share), while Fox took third place with 8.1 million (4.8 rating, 8 share).

NBC was far behind, averaging 5.9 million viewers (3.6 rating, 6 share). The premiere of “The Voice,” its much-promoted singing competition, was that network’s only show to crack the Top 20, ranking eighth place.

The CW averaged 1.8 million viewers (1.1 rating, 2 share) and Ion Television had 1.3 million (0.8 rating, 1 share).

Among the Spanish-language networks, Univision led with an average of 3.4 million viewers (1.8 rating, 3 share), while Telemundo had 1.4 million (0.7 rating, 1 share), TeleFutura had 570,000 (0.3 rating, 0 share), Estrella had 240,000 (0.1 rating, 0 share) and Azteca had 180,000 (0.1 rating, 0 share).

NBC’s “Nightly News” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 8.9 million viewers (5.8 rating, 12 share). ABC’s “World News” was second with 8.3 million (5.5 rating, 11 share) and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.7 million viewers (3.9 rating, 8 share).

A ratings point represents 1,149,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation’s estimated 114.9 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

The Top 20

Primetime viewership numbers compiled by the Nielsen Co. for April 25-May 1. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.

1. “Dancing With the Stars” (Monday), ABC, 22.38 million.

2. “American Idol” (Wednesday), Fox, 22.32 million.

3. “American Idol” (Thursday), Fox, 19.60 million.

4. “Dancing With the Stars” (Tuesday), ABC, 18.28 million.

5. “The Mentalist,” CBS, 13.53 million.

6. “Dancing With the Stars” (Special — Tuesday), ABC, 13.08 million.

7. “Body of Proof,” ABC, 11.86 million.

8. “The Voice,” NBC, 11.78 million.

9. “Survivor: Redemption Island,” CBS, 11.32 million.

10. “Better With You,” ABC, 11.23 million.

11. “NCIS,” CBS, 11.21 million.

12. “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” CBS, 10.84 million.

13. “60 Minutes” (7-7:46 p.m. Eastern), CBS, 10.74 million.

14. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 10.71 million.

15. “Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC, 10.67 million.

16. “NCIS: Los Angeles,” CBS, 10.29 million.

17. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 10.06 million.

18. “Bones,” Fox, 9.70 million.

19. “60 Minutes” (7:46-8 p.m. Eastern), CBS, 9.51 million.

20. “Desperate Housewives,” ABC, 9.44 million.