Inaugural dip for ‘American Idol’ makes CBS No. 1
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With last week’s inaugural festivities depressing ratings for Fox’s ‘American Idol,’ CBS managed to sneak away with a narrow ratings win for the week ending Jan. 25.
The Wednesday ‘Idol’ was the week’s most-watched program, with 25.9 million total viewers, according to figures published Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research. But the Tuesday edition -- facing stiff competition from coverage of the inaugural balls for President Obama on ABC and the cable news networks -- delivered a lower-than-usual 22.8 million.
That left just enough of an opening for CBS, which had six of the top 10 programs among total viewers. That included ‘CSI: Crime Scene Investigation’ (17.6 million), which took a ratings dip in its first outing since star William L. Petersen left the forensics drama, replaced by Laurence Fishburne.
Overall, CBS took the week with an average of 10.8 million viewers, trailed by Fox (10.5 million), ABC (8.3 million) and NBC (6.5 million). CBS has won 15 of 18 weeks in the regular TV season.
Fox easily snatched the victory in adults aged 18-49, with a 3.8 rating versus runner-up ABC’s 2.9. Season to date, Fox and CBS are now tied for first place in that demographic, with a 3.2 rating, although Fox will likely storm ahead as ‘Idol’ continues its run.
On basic cable, the week’s most-watched programming was CNN’s coverage of Obama’s inauguration speech, with 8.6 million viewers.
-- Scott Collins
(Photo of ‘CSI’ courtesy CBS)
