NBC Seizes Ratings Lead With NFL, ‘Voice’

NEW YORK (AP) – Powered by football and “The Voice,” NBC took the lead in the ratings last week.

But even football couldn’t tackle CBS’ indomitable “NCIS,” which edged out the Seahawks-49ers clash to become the week’s most-watched show. It drew 19.6 million viewers, the Nielsen Co. said Thursday.

In third place was “NCIS: Los Angeles,” followed by the season finale of “The Voice.” The season finale of Fox’s singing competition “The X Factor” ranked 14th.

Among several Christmas specials, “A White House Christmas: First Families Remember” was the most-watched, ranking 20th place.

A preview airing of a new NBC sitcom, “1600 Penn,” ranked 23rd with 6.9 viewers. It premieres next month.

Overall for the week, NBC averaged 8.12 million viewers in primetime (4.9 rating, 8 share). CBS ranked second with 7.50 million viewers (4.9/8), while Fox had 5.64 million (3.3/6), ABC had 4.78 million (3.0/5), the CW had 1.43 million (0.9/1) and Ion had 1.12 million (0.8/1).

Among the Spanish-language networks, Univision led with an average of 3.21 million viewers (1.7/3). Telemundo had 1.24 million (0.6/1), TeleFutura had 740,000 (0.4/1), Estrella had 270,000 (0.1/0) and Azteca had 140,000 (0.1/0).

NBC’s “Nightly News” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 9.1 million viewers (6.1/11). ABC’s “World News” was second with 7.9 million (5.3/10) and the “CBS Evening News” had 7.0 million viewers (4.6/9).

A ratings point represents 1,147,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation’s estimated 114.7 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 Nielsen for Dec. 17-23. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.

1. “NCIS,” CBS, 19.59 million.

2. NFL Football: San Francisco at Seattle, NBC, 19.50 million.

3. “NCIS: Los Angeles,” CBS, 15.48 million.

4. “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC, 14.13 million.

5. “Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick,” NBC, 13.67 million.

6. “The Voice” (Monday), NBC, 13.37 million.

7. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 10.95 million.

8. “The OT,” Fox, 10.94 million.

9. “Mike & Molly,” CBS, 10.79 million.

10. “Hawaii Five-0,” CBS, 10.54 million.

11. “Football Night in America,” NBC, 10.23 million.

12. “2 Broke Girls,” CBS, 10.22 million.

13. “Vegas,” CBS, 9.82 million.

14. “The X Factor” (Thursday), Fox, 9.66 million.

15. “Person of Interest,” CBS, 9.40 million.

16. “60 Minutes Presents,” CBS, 8.89 million.

17. “How I Met Your Mother,” CBS, 8.70 million.

18. “Two and a Half Men,” CBS, 8.67 million.

19. “The X Factor” (Wednesday), Fox, 8.35 million.

20. “A White House Christmas”, NBC, 8.29 million.