Cbs Takes Sweeps, But Not By Much

It came down to the final night, Wednesday, but CBS was able to muscle its way to a close victory in both household ratings and total viewers for the November sweeps, according to Nielsen.

The sweeps are quarterly ratings periods used by local stations to set future advertising rates. A sweeps win also gives a broadcast network bragging rights for the coming months.

CBS, however, did not win the title by much. It was a squeaker by any measure.

For the 28-day sweep, CBS averaged a 9.5 rating (percentage of the nation’s 99.4 million TV homes) and a 16 share (percentage of the sets in use), with 13,690,000 viewers. Runnerup NBC, by far the strongest network of the past few years, averaged a 9.4 rating/15 share, with 13,510,000 viewers. ABC averaged an 8.8/14, with 12,810,000 viewers. Fox averaged a 7.7/12, with 11,840,000 viewers. The WB averaged a 3.4/4, with 4,820,000 viewers. And UPN averaged a 2.0/3, with 2,720,000 viewers.

In the advertiser-desired 18-to-49-year-old audience category, NBC won a tight battle with Fox that also was decided on the last night.

For the sweep, NBC averaged 7,280,000 viewers between the ages of 18 and 49, to Fox’ 7,070,000 viewers. ABC averaged 6,400,000 18-to-49s, CBS averaged 5,030,000, the WB averaged 2,350,000 and UPN averaged 1,390,000. NBC’s “ER” was the highest-rated series of the period and NBC’s miniseries “The Temptations” was the highest-rated miniseries of the sweep.

Over the course of the month, CBS got strong performances from its Sunday movies, “Saint Maybe,” and the miniseries “Mama Flora’s Family.” It also got its usually high numbers from its Sunday drama “Touched by an Angel.”

Though CBS earned the win, there wasn’t much for it or any of the networks to boast about. With the exception of the WB, which has improved its fortunes across the board, all of the networks did worse this sweeps period than the same month a year ago. Winner CBS was off 10 percent, NBC was off 8 percent, ABC was off 9 percent, Fox was off 4 percent and UPN was off 45 percent.

CBS Network president Leslie Moonves cited the success of his network’s core programming as a positive signal.

According to CBS estimates, 92 percent of its schedule during the sweep was regular fare, ABC aired 86 percent of its regular lineup, NBC aired 79 percent and Fox aired 77 percent.