This sweeps,
NBC is ahead by a mile
Lifted by a huge Super Bowl, network is averaging a 5.7
By Toni Fitzgerald
Feb 16, 2012
Big events will be the key to victory in this February sweeps.
Two weeks into the month-long period used to set rates for local advertisers, NBC is in the lead, followed by CBS.
Not coincidentally, those two networks have also aired the highest-rated shows during this sweeps period, the record-setting Super Bowl on NBC and the best Grammy Awards in two decades on CBS.
They both have a substantial cushion leading into the final two weeks of the sweeps period, which wraps up Feb. 29.
NBC is averaging a 5.7 adults 18-49 rating, according to Nielsen data through Monday, the most recent night available. CBS is in second with a 3.2, followed by Fox in third with a 2.2 and ABC fourth at 1.9. Univision is fifth at 1.4, and the CW is a distant sixth with a 0.7.
Big events tend to be difference makers during the February sweeps. This year three of this season's most-watched programs (the Super Bowl, Grammys and Oscars) will all air during sweeps.
Fox, which aired last year's Super Bowl, won sweeps last year, and NBC won in 2010 with the Winter Olympics.
This year, NBC not only had the Super Bowl, which averaged a 40.5 rating, twice as much as the month's No. 2 show, but it also drew huge numbers for the postgame episode of "The Voice," which averaged a 16.3, best for an entertainment program in six years.
That gave NBC a gigantic lead early in sweeps. Its momentum continued with the regularly scheduled episodes of "Voice," which have averaged more than a 6.0 rating.
That's helped balance out NBC's limp ratings on other nights of the week. It averaged more than a 2.0 only two evenings last week.
CBS, meanwhile, moved into second on the strength of the Grammys, which averaged a 14.1 rating, the ceremony's best showing in 22 years.
It may be tough for Fox, which had won four of the previous five February sweeps, to catch up.
"American Idol" remains the top show on broadcast, but it's nowhere near as dominant as it was in years past, and that makes it hard to compete against the networks with the Super Bowl and Grammys.
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