CBS CBS Corp

By Steven Perlberg 

A pair of CBS programs were the top-viewed shows of 2016, dethroning NBC's "Sunday Night Football" as the most-watched regularly-scheduled primetime program on television, according to a new report from Nielsen.

"The Big Bang Theory" averaged 19.94 million viewers this year, followed by 19.89 million for "NCIS" and 19.28 million for "Sunday Night Football, " which last year topped the list with an average of 23.29 million people tuning in.

The figures come during a tough year for ratings for NFL games, which were once thought of as immune to the challenges in the traditional television business. While CBS carried six out of the top 10 primetime shows, the network saw "Thursday Night Football" drop from sixth to ninth on Nielsen's list this year. (It has split the package of games with NBC.)

Overall, there was a downshift in viewership among the top shows, with last year's top three all generating audiences above 20 million viewers.

This year, AMC's "The Walking Dead" nabbed fourth place with 18.82 million, making it the only cable show to crack the top 10. That was followed by CBS's "Bull" (17.65 million) and "NCIS: New Orleans" (15.62 million). ABC grabbed eighth place with its new show "Designated Survivor," which averaged 14.92 million viewers.

To be sure, big playoff football games draw unrivaled TV viewership figures. Unsurprisingly, the top single telecast of 2016 was the Super Bowl, which brought in 112.58 million viewers. The second-biggest single telecast? The Super Bowl post-game show, with 70.26 million.

Nielsen's list does not include big events outside of primetime, like this year's AFC championship game on CBS and the NFC championship on Fox, which brought in 53.37 million and 45.86 million viewers, respectively, according to Nielsen.

This year marked baseball's return to the top three on Nielsen's single telecast list: 40.27 million tuned in to watch the Cubs win Game 7 of the World Series last month on Fox. In fourth place, the Oscars on ABC brought in 35.61 million.

The report measures live viewing plus seven days of delayed viewing. "Better Call Saul" on AMC was the most time-shifted show on television, with viewership increasing 278.7% when Nielsen adds people who did not watch live.

Write to Steven Perlberg at steven.perlberg@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 14, 2016 13:39 ET (18:39 GMT)

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