CBS clobbers its rivals in prime-time ratings

The biggest broadcast of the week: CBS' airing of the Super Bowl-bound Pittsburgh Steelers in their win over the Baltimore Ravens. This American Football Conference championship game was watched by 40.7 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The Tuesday and Wednesday editions of "Idol" were the week's second- and third-most-watched shows.

Then, after the fourth-ranked AFC postgame show, "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" seized fifth place as 24.3 million viewers saw the farewell episode of departing star William Petersen.

ABC's top-ranked show of the week: an airing of "Grey's Anatomy," in 14th place. NBC's most-watched show: "Law & Order: SVU," which ranked 25th.

For the week overall, CBS had the lead with an average 17.0 million viewers (10.1 household rating, 16 share). Fox ranked second with 12.8 million viewers (7.1 rating, 11 share). ABC came in a distant third with 6.7 million (4.3 rating, 7 share), and NBC followed with 6.2 million (3.9 rating, 6 share). The CW had 1.9 million (1.2 rating, 2 share), My Network TV 1.7 million (1.1 rating, 2 share), and ION Television 730,000 viewers (0.5 rating, 1 share).

Among the Spanish-language networks, Univision retained its customary lead with an average of 3.9 million viewers (1.9 rating, 3 share), Telemundo had 1.3 million (0.7 rating, 1 share), TeleFutura 690,000 viewers (0.3 rating, 1 share), and Azteca 160,000 (0.1 rating, 0 share).

NBC's "Nightly News" had a hefty win among the evening newscasts with an average of 10.5 million viewers (6.8 rating, 13 share). ABC's "World News" was second with 9.0 million (6.0 rating, 11 share), and the "CBS Evening News" had 7.5 million viewers (5.0 rating, 9 share).

A ratings point represents 1,145,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 114.5 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

For the week of Jan. 12-18, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: AFC Championship: Baltimore vs. Pittsburgh, CBS, 40.7 million; "American Idol" (Tuesday), Fox, 30.4 million; "American Idol" (Wednesday), Fox, 30.3 million; AFC Championship postgame show, CBS, 25.4 million; "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 24.3 million; "NCIS," CBS, 18.6 million; "The Mentalist," CBS, 18.1 million; "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 17.1 million; "The Mentalist" (Sunday airing), CBS, 16.4 million; "CSI: Miami," CBS, 15.8 million.

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ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co. CBS is owned by CBS Corp. CW is a joint venture of Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corp. Fox and My Network TV are units of News Corp. NBC and Telemundo are owned by General Electric Co. ION Television is owned by ION Media Networks. TeleFutura is a division of Univision. Azteca America is a wholly owned subsidiary of TV Azteca S.A. de C.V.

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