The big four broadcast TV networks are poised to increase their viewership for the first time since 2006, with more hit shows and surging ratings for sports and awards programs.
The prime-time TV audience on CBS, Fox, ABC and NBC has climbed about 1 percent to more than 38.6 million viewers a night with a week left in the season, according to data from New York- based Nielsen Co.
Of the four, only ABC has lost viewers, down 3.9 percent.
The ratings, along with a recovery in local and national commercials, may herald a period of stability for broadcasters, which have lost advertisers and viewers to competing media for decades. The networks are also collecting retransmission fees from pay-TV operators for the first time, opening a new source of revenue.
“It’s like we’re wiping out the last 15 years of bad news and getting a do-over,” said economist Jack Myers, founder of the Media Economic Development Investment Advisory Group.
“The quality of television programming is improving. This past season, there were more hits than probably in a decade.”
Higher ratings will translate into bigger advertising sales for the 2010-2011 TV season, according to New York’s Barclays Capital.
Advance sales for the season starting in September may jump 20 percent to $8.26 billion, Barclays estimated last month. Network ad sales declined 7.6 percent last year, according to researcher Kantar Media.
The big four drew larger audiences to the Oscars, Emmys and Golden Globes, according to Nielsen data. National Football League playoffs and the Super Bowl attracted record audiences, and NBC’s Winter Olympics averaged 24.4 million viewers.
Two years ago, viewership plunged 6.2 percent, the most in a decade, as striking writers crippled TV production. Networks haven’t regained those viewers.
“All these big, special-event shows really fueled the ratings,” said Brad Adgate, research director at Horizon Media, a New York-based advertising company.
CBS, little changed from a year ago at 11.8 million viewers nightly, will end the season as the most- watched network for a second straight season, chief executive Leslie Moonves said Wednesday.
CBS has five shows in the top 10, including “NCIS” and “The Mentalist,” according to Nielsen data. The network’s prime-time audience is 19 percent larger than nearest rival Fox, up 2.6 percent to 9.95 million.
Fox is poised to finish first in 18- to 49-year-old viewers, those favored by advertisers, for the sixth straight season on the strength of “American Idol,” the most popular show on television.
The network is averaging 4.8 million viewers a night in that demographic, according to Nielsen data, compared with 4.17 million for second-place CBS.
The increases may be a fluke. The big four networks last gained prime-time viewers in the season that ended in 2006, when the average rose 2 percent to 43.6 million, according to Nielsen.
With its Olympics coverage, NBC is in third place in the younger-viewer group, averaging 3.56 million 18-to-49 age viewers nightly, according to Nielsen. The network has also been helped by the return of dramas to 10 p.m. after giving up on Jay Leno’s prime- time talk show in February.
ABC is close behind at 3.52 million. Overall, ABC is third place with 8.58 million and NBC is last at 8.29 million.
