ABC - BASEBALL DOMINATES RATINGS

BASEBALL DOMINATES RATINGS

The national pastime dominated the national primetime last week as Fox's coverage of the World Series between the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies scored strongly with viewers. In USA Today, writer Michael Hiestand, sounding as if he was an escapee from Variety , observed that "this year's boffo TV box office might suggest baseball has picked up some big new momentum." Last week's games -- which averaged 19 million viewers per game compared with 13 million a year ago -- gave Fox a commanding lead over its rivals and pushed its average for all shows to 14.7 million viewers for the week in primetime. CBS, the usual winner when there's no baseball, averaged 9.8 million viewers, while ABC was close behind with 9.5 million. NBC continued to trail with just 5.6 million. The nightly newscasts lined up as usual, with NBC News With Brian Williams scoring 8.50 million viewers. ABC World News with Charles Gibson was second with 7.95 million viewers, while the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric once again bombed with 5.88 million viewers.

The top ten shows of the week according to Nielsen Research 1. World Series -- Game 4, Fox, 13.5/22; 2. World Series -- Game 1, Fox, 11.9/19; 3. World Series -- Game 2, Fox, 11.7/19; 4. Dancing With the Stars (Monday), ABC, 11.3/17; 5. Fox World Series -- Game 4 Pregame, Fox, 10.7/17; 6. NCIS, CBS, 10.4/16; 7. The OT, Fox, 9.8/16; 8. The Mentalist, CBS, 9.7/16; 9. Dancing With The Stars (Tuesday), ABC, 9.6/15; 10. CSI Crime Scene Investigation, CBS, 9.2/14.

04/11/2009