CBS’ Strong November Kills NBC’s 3-Year Grip on Sweeps

CBS officially has ended NBC’s three-year run of victories in major sweeps, upsetting the prime-time ratings leader in the November survey that concluded last Wednesday night.

Final national numbers over a four-week stretch show CBS--which took the lead behind movies such as “What the Deaf Man Heard” and the miniseries “Bella Mafia”--hanging on to a narrow advantage. The network averaged 15.1 million viewers per night, according to Nielsen Media Research, surpassing the 14.8 million tuned to NBC.

ABC ranked third, with 14 million viewers, but lost 6% of its audience compared to last November’s sweeps, while Fox--with 12.3 million people watching on average--experienced an equivalent gain.

NBC had won every major sweep--conducted in November, February and May--since early 1995, the season in which the network launched its Thursday night hits “ER” and “Friends.”

Thanks largely to the continuing popularity of those programs, “Seinfeld” and the Tuesday lineup anchored by “Frasier” and “Mad About You,” NBC remained No. 1 in the key demographics used to negotiate advertising rates, which is the main purpose of sweeps. Fox ranked second by that standard, while ABC fell to third place and CBS--which traditionally attracts an older audience--settled for fourth.

Still, CBS’ performance provides much-coveted bragging rights in addition to fostering the perception that front-running NBC is becoming more vulnerable, given the 10% decline in its audience versus the same period a year ago.

ABC’s best news came in the Saturday morning race, where a lineup of animated programming from corporate parent the Walt Disney Co.--including “101 Dalmatians” and “One Saturday Morning”--dramatically narrowed the gap with perennial leader Fox. ABC increased its children’s audience by more than 40% compared to last November, while Fox lost a quarter of its viewers between the ages of 2 and 11.

NBC’s “Today” also achieved a ratings milestone during sweeps, extending its streak as the top-rated morning program to 100 weeks. In the most recent week for which Nielsen figures are available, “Today” averaged nearly 6.2 million viewers, far ahead of the 3.9 million watching second-place “Good Morning America.”