NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� The Nielsen company's latest rankings of popular television and streaming shows have one thing in common 鈥� 鈥淣CIS鈥� at the top.
The CBS drama starring Mark Harmon as a Naval Criminal Investigative Service special agent has been on the air since 2003 and defines unhip. Yet the 8.7 million people who watched last Tuesday's episode was a bigger audience than anything else in prime-time television last week, Nielsen said.
The company also measures streaming audiences, although its reports lag behind the television ratings. Its most recent week available was April 19-25, and an estimated 890 million minutes of 鈥淣CIS鈥� reruns were streamed on Netflix that week. Streamers could choose from among a staggering 353 episodes.
The Disney+ Marvel miniseries, 鈥淭he Falcon and the Winter Soldier,鈥� was the second most-streamed show that week. Six episodes were available, and 796 million minutes of the show were streamed.
All of the other programs in Nielsen's top 10 that week were on Netflix. They included the young adult fantasy series 鈥淪hadow and Bone,鈥� the game show 鈥淭he Circle,鈥� the science fiction movie 鈥淪towaway鈥� starring Anna Kendrick, the old Nickelodeon comedy 鈥淣icky, Ricky, Dicky and Dawn鈥� and broadcast reruns 鈥淕rey's Anatomy鈥� and 鈥淐riminal Minds.鈥�
On television, there was evidence that the NBA's gimmick of 鈥減lay-in鈥� games before the regular playoffs intrigued fans. Last week's game between Golden State and the L.A. Lakers brought 5.6 million people to ESPN, nearly double the most-watched game of the playoff's first round.
CBS was the most popular broadcast network last week, averaging 4.6 million viewers in prime time. NBC had 3.7 million, ABC had 3.5 million, Fox had 2.6 million, Univision had 1.3 million and Telemundo had 1 million.
Fox News Channel was the most popular cable network with a 2.04 million average in prime time. MSNBC had 1.43 million, TNT had 1.39 million, ESPN had 1.38 million and HGTV had 1.12 million.
ABC's 鈥淲orld News Tonight鈥� won the evening news ratings race, averaging 7.6 million viewers. NBC's 鈥淣ightly News鈥� had 6.2 million and the 鈥淐BS Evening News鈥� had 4.7 million.
For the week of May 17-23, the top 20 programs in prime-time, their networks and viewerships:
1. 鈥淣CIS,鈥� CBS, 8.73 million.
2. 鈥�60 Minutes,鈥� CBS, 8.26 million.
3. 鈥淔BI,鈥� CBS, 7.59 million.
4. 鈥淭he Equalizer,鈥� CBS, 7.13 million.
5. 鈥淐hicago Fire,鈥� NBC, 6.84 million.
6. 鈥淐hicago Med,鈥� NBC, 6.62 million.
7. 鈥淎merican Idol,鈥� ABC, 6.5 million.
8. 鈥淭he Voice鈥� (Monday), NBC, 6.19 million.
9. 鈥淣CIS: Los Angeles,鈥� CBS, 6.18 million.
10. 鈥�911,鈥� Fox, 5.93 million.
11. 鈥淐hicago PD,鈥� NBC, 5.64 million.
12. NBA Playoffs: Golden State vs. L.A. Lakers, ESPN, 5.62 million.
13. 鈥淭he Neighborhood,鈥� CBS, 5.56 million.
14. 鈥淔BI: Most Wanted,鈥� CBS, 5.48 million.
15. 鈥淭he Voice鈥� (Tuesday), NBC, 5.45 million.
16. 鈥淏ob Hearts Abishola,鈥� CBS, 5.39 million.
17. 鈥淭he Masked Singer,鈥� Fox,, 5.23 million.
18. 鈥�911: Lone Star,鈥� Fox, 5.2 million.
19. 鈥淣CIS: New Orleans,鈥� CBS, 5.18 million.
20. 鈥淏ull,鈥� CBS, 5.08 million.
David Bauder, The Associated Press
