NEW YORK (AP) – For all of the changes in how and when people consume television content, CBS’ dominance in showing more scripted material that people watch each week remains consistent.
Of the 30 most popular dramas and comedies shown on TV last week, 18 were CBS programs, the Nielsen company said. They include “NCIS,” still the most-watched drama on TV, and the comedy “The Big Bang Theory” and incorporate much of the network’s prime-time schedule.
NBC was second with six scripted shows and ABC had four. Fox had only one (“Empire”) and AMC’s “The Walking Dead” held the flag for cable networks.
Things are more evenly divided if you restrict the top 30 shows to viewers aged 18-to-49, the demographic most prized by advertisers, but CBS still leads. CBS had 10 of the top 30 shows among this group. ABC was next with seven, NBC had six, Fox had five and AMC and the CW both had one.
ABC (“Dancing With the Stars”), NBC (“The Voice”) and CBS (“Survivor”) each have strong non-scripted franchises. Fox’s relative weakness in this category, with the exception of “Master Chef,” explains why it lags so far behind its rivals at this point.