In the battle of reality shows, “Survivor” proved it’s still the champion.
The conclusion of the Pearl Islands “Survivor,” the seventh edition of CBS’ game, reached 25.2 million viewers Sunday, Nielsen Media Research said.
That enabled “Survivor” to beat two other big reality events, the finale of NBC’s “Average Joe” and “The Bachelorette,” Trista Rehn’s wedding on ABC.
The penultimate episode of “Survivor,” broadcast last Thursday, was seen by just under 22 million people. The game has been a consistent winner, and the promise of an all-star “Survivor” with favorite contestants starting in February makes CBS executives smile.
“Average Joe” drew a hearty 17.4 million viewers for NBC last week, upsetting ABC’s opulent wedding. NBC has a second version of the show filmed and ready to go in January.
Trista and Ryan’s wedding was seen by 17.1 million people.
The popular Christmas show, “Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer,” drew 13.7 million viewers for CBS, helping the network to another easy ratings win. CBS averaged 13.7 million viewers for the week (8.4 rating, 14 share), and also won among the 18-to-49-year-old demographic that NBC usually dominates.
NBC finished second for the week with 11.2 million viewers (7.4 rating, 12 share), ABC had 9.5 million (6.3, 10), Fox 7.7 million (4.9, 8), UPN 3 million (2.1, 3), the WB 2.9 million (2.0, 3) and Pax TV 980,000 (0.7, 1).
NBC’s “Nightly News” won the evening news ratings race, averaging 11.2 million viewers (7.7 rating, 14 share). ABC’s “World News Tonight” had 10.4 million (7.3, 14) and the “CBS Evening News” had 8 million (5.8, 11).
A ratings point represents 1,084,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation’s estimated 108.4 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.
For the week of Dec. 8-14, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” CBS, 26.8 million; “Survivor: Pearl Islands Finale,” CBS, 25.2 million; “Survivor: Pearl Islands (Thursday),” CBS, 22.4 million; “Survivor: Pearl Islands Reunion,” CBS, 21.9 million; “ER,” NBC, 19.7 million; “60 Minutes,” CBS, 18.8 million; “Average Joe,” NBC, 17.4 million; “Trista & Ryan’s Wedding,” ABC, 17.1 million; “Without a Trace,” CBS, 16.4 million; “NFL Monday Night Football: St. Louis vs. Cleveland,” ABC, 15.3 million.