Last year’s matchup between the Patriots and the Giants was viewed by a record 97.5 million people in the U.S. As expected, the Super Bowl was the most-watched TV broadcast in 2008. Networks broadcasting the Super Bowl often use the game as a lead-in for one of their regular shows. This year, NBC will broadcast a one-hour episode of The Office. Last year, 29.1 million viewers stuck around after the game to watch an episode of House on FOX.

Year
Super Bowl
Avg. viewers
in millions
Show After Game
Avg. viewers
in millions

2008
FOX – …

ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars” was the number one-ranked primetime telecast on broadcast TV for Tuesday, November 25, 2008 with approximately 20.6 million average viewers.
CBS’s “NCIS” and “The Mentalist” rounded out the top three with approximately 18.1 and 15.9 million average viewers respectively.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
DANCING W/STARS RESULTS
ABC
20,647,000

2
NCIS
CBS
18,118,000

3
MENTALIST, THE
CBS
15,925,000

4
HOUSE
FOX
12,877,000

5
CHARLIE BROWN THANKSGVING(S)-11/25/2008
ABC
11,085,000

6
WITHOUT A TRACE
CBS
10,416,000

7
LAW AND ORDER:SVU
NBC
8,589,000

8
FRINGE
FOX
7,704,000

9
BIGGEST LOSER 6
NBC
6,875,000

10
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE TUE
UNI
5,335,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (November 25, 2008).

Overall, ABC won the night with an average audience of almost 17.5 million viewers, while CBS took second place with just over 14.8 million average viewers. …

ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars” was the top-rated primetime telecast on broadcast TV for November 5, 2008.  The program drew just over 15.8 million average viewers Wednesday night.
CBS’s “Criminal Minds” and “CSI: NY” rounded out the top three, with 14.3 million and 11.8 million average viewers, respectively.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
DANCING W/STARS RESULT SP(S)-11/05/2008
ABC
15,848,000

2
CRIMINAL MINDS
CBS
14,304,000

3
CSI: NY
CBS
11,801,000

4
BONES
FOX
10,172,000

5
PRIVATE PRACTICE
ABC
9,171,000

6
LAW AND ORDER
NBC
7,936,000

7
HOUSE-WED 9P
FOX
6,654,000

8
OLD CHRISTINE
CBS
6,497,000

9
GARY UNMARRIED
CBS
6,326,000

10
DIRTY SEXY MONEY
ABC
6,151,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (November 5, 2008).

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of just over 10.8 million viewers, while ABC took second place with almost 10.5 million …

ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” was the number one-ranked primetime telecast on broadcast TV for Tuesday, October 28, 2008.
CBS’s “NCIS” and “The Mentalist” rounded out the top three, claiming second and third places, respectively, in Nielsen’s ranking.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
DANCING W/STARS RESULTS
ABC
17,445,000

2
NCIS
CBS
17,258,000

3
MENTALIST, THE
CBS
16,073,000

4
HOUSE
FOX
13,498,000

5
WITHOUT A TRACE
CBS
12,192,000

6
GREAT PUMPKIN, C. BROWN(S)-10/28/2008
ABC
10,383,000

7
LAW AND ORDER:SVU
NBC
9,329,000

8
BIGGEST LOSER 6
NBC
8,139,000

9
ELI STONE
ABC
6,916,000

10
FRINGE
FOX
5,664,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (October 28, 2008).

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of almost 15.2 million viewers, while ABC took second place with almost 11.7 million average viewers. FOX and NBC claimed third and fourth places with …

CBS’s “NCIS” and “The Mentalist” were the number one- and number three-ranked primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for Tuesday, October 21, 2008.
ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars” was sandwiched between the two, in second place.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
NCIS
CBS
17,226,000

2
DANCING W/STARS RESULTS
ABC
16,350,000

3
MENTALIST, THE
CBS
15,282,000

4
HOUSE
FOX
13,085,000

5
WITHOUT A TRACE
CBS
11,629,000

6
LAW AND ORDER:SVU
NBC
9,497,000

7
DANCING W/STARS RECAP(S)-10/21/2008
ABC
9,037,000

8
FRINGE
FOX
8,914,000

9
ELI STONE
ABC
8,012,000

10
BIGGEST LOSER 6
NBC
7,407,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (October 21, 2008).

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of just over 14.7 million viewers, while ABC took second place with just over 11.2 million average viewers. FOX and NBC claimed third and fourth places with roughly 11 …

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
CSI
CBS
19,275,000

2
NCIS
CBS
18,038,000

3
DANCING WITH THE STARS
ABC
17,765,000

4
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
ABC
15,485,000

5
MENTALIST, THE
CBS
14,935,000

6
DANCING W/STARS RESULTS
ABC
14,816,000

7
GREY’S ANATOMY-THU 9PM
ABC
14,803,000

8
TWO AND A HALF MEN
CBS
14,719,000

9
60 MINUTES
CBS
14,533,000

10
HOUSE
FOX
13,269,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (October 13, 2008 – October 19, 2008).

CBS’s “NCIS” and “The Mentalist” were, respectively, the number one- and two-ranked primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for Tuesday, October 14, 2008.
“NCIS” drew an average audience of just over 18 million viewers, while “The Mentalist” drew roughly 14.9 million average viewers.
ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars” rounded out the top three, with just over 14.8 million average viewers.
The season premiere of ABC’s “Eli Stone,” which drew almost 8.4 million average viewers, also made the top ten.

RANK
PROGRAM
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
NCIS
CBS
18,038,000

2
MENTALIST, THE
CBS
14,935,000

3
DANCING W/STARS RESULTS
ABC
14,816,000

4
HOUSE
FOX
13,269,000

5
WITHOUT A TRACE
CBS
11,051,000

6
LAW AND ORDER:SVU
NBC
9,512,000

7
FRINGE
FOX
9,157,000

8
ELI STONE
ABC
8,394,000

9
BIGGEST LOSER 6
NBC
7,637,000

10
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE TUE
UNI
5,188,000

Source: …

CBS’s “NCIS” and “The Mentalist” were the number one- and number three-ranked primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for Tuesday, September 30, 2008.
ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars” was sandwiched between the two, in second place.

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
NCIS
CBS
17,470,000

2
DANCING W/STARS RESULTS
ABC
15,491,000

3
MENTALIST, THE
CBS
15,484,000

4
HOUSE
FOX
12,978,000

5
WITHOUT A TRACE
CBS
12,611,000

6
LAW AND ORDER:SVU
NBC
10,391,000

7
FRINGE
FOX
9,906,000

8
BIGGEST LOSER 6
NBC
7,390,000

9
OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS
ABC
5,960,000

10
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE TUE
UNI
5,280,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (September 30, 2008).

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of almost 15.2 million viewers, while FOX took second place with almost 11.5 million average viewers. ABC and NBC claimed third and fourth places with roughly 8.8 …

Night two of ABC’s three-night “Dancing with the Stars” season premiere was the top-ranked primetime telecast on broadcast TV for Tuesday, September 23, 2008.  The show drew an average of just over 18.3 million viewers — down from 21.3 million viewers the previous night.
Two of CBS’s season premieres, “NCIS” and “The Mentalist,” claimed the next two spots in Tuesday night’s rankings, with average audiences of approximately 18 million and 15.6 million viewers, respectively.
The second episode of the new season of FOX’s “House” (12.4 million average viewers) and the season premiere …

FOX’s “House” and ESPN’s “Home Run Derby” are the most popular primetime programs on broadcast and cable, respectively, among U.S. TV viewers watching from their offices, fitness clubs, hotels, and bars.
In July, each show drew 570,000 out-of-home viewers, according to Nielsen and Integrated Media Measurement Inc. (IMMI), which recently began delivering the first daily, all-electronic, national TV ratings for viewing that occurs outside of the home.
Nielsen and IMMI’s new syndicated, national service relies on a sample of 2,500 panelists that is separate from Nielsen’s National People Meter sample.
Later this year …