ABC is back in the ratings race as midseason approaches thanks to a dominant showing in a pigskin-packed week that saw the net air college or pro football on five nights.
According to national Nielsen estimates for the Dec. 30-Jan. 5 frame, the Alphabet web -- powered in particular by huge numbers Friday for the college football championship game and Saturday for a National Football League playoff contest -- delivered its best week in two years and claimed the largest weekly margin of victory of any network this season.
ABC bested runner-up Fox, itself a beneficiary of primetime football, by 50% in adults 18-49 (5.8/16 to 3.9/11). It also led easily in adults 18-34 and 25-54, and total viewers.
Week's top two programs were Friday's double-overtime Miami-Ohio State college football thriller in the Fiesta Bowl (29.10 million viewers, 10.7/30 in adults 18-49) and Saturday's pro football shocker as the Atlanta Falcons defeated the Green Bay Packers (26.32 million, 10.3/29 in adults 18-49).
The college game drew the best numbers for a championship contest in the seven seasons of the college Bowl Championship Series and provided ABC with its strongest Friday in 10 years. One night later, the pro game gave the net its best Saturday in at least 11 years.
Net's Sunday drama "Alias" seemed to benefit from some football promotion, grabbing its best rating in two months (4.3/10).
Although the Alphabet has numerous holes on its sked as a result of drama failures this fall, net finds itself in the dog hunt for second place this season in adults 18-49. ABC has pulled even with CBS through 15 weeks (3.9/11) -- well behind leader NBC (4.5/12) but not too far ahead of fourth-place Fox (3.6/10).
Thanks primarily to ABC's largesse, the six broadcast networks easily moved back ahead of basic cable for the week (49 share to 44 share), repping a 6% year-to-year gain for the nets and a 3% decline for cable.
Basic cable as a group (the 100-plus universe) had defeated the repeat-heavy broadcasters the previous two weeks.
Fox moved up to second in adults 18-49 thanks to a hefty 70-minute NFL overrun Sunday (New York Giants-San Francisco 49ers), which helped place the net's comedies that followed, "The Simpsons" and "King of the Hill," among the week's top 10 shows in 18-49.
NBC settled for third place in adults 18-49, failing to win any night in the demo but placing second on five of them. A repeat of "Friends" was the frame's top comedy.
Opposite a "CSI" repeat and football -- but not "Survivor" -- an original seg of NBC laffer "Scrubs" retained an impressive 86% of its repeat "Friends" lead-in among adults 18-49 (6.2/15 vs. 7.2/19) and an even better 91% among adults 18-34 (6.9/17 vs. 7.6/22).
CBS slipped to fourth in adults 18-49 and 25-54 for the first time this season, even though a pair of "CSI" repeats Thursday ranked as the week's two most-watched series.
Also Thursday, a repeat of 10 o'clock drama "Without a Trace" retained a solid 63% of its "CSI" lead-in among adults 18-49 (4.8/13 vs. 7.6/18). In a similar situation a year ago, opposite football on ABC and an "ER" repeat on NBC, "The Agency" retained 54% of the "CSI" aud (4.3/11 vs. 8.0/18).
The WB edged out UPN in most categories thanks to a nice finishing kick Sunday from the premiere of reality series "High School Reunion," which matched or set the net's best showing this season in the Sunday-at-9 hour (2.4/5 in adults 18-49, 2.8/7 in A18-34).
And on Thursday, a marathon of the "Jamie Kennedy Experiment" gave the Frog its best Thursday of the season, as the second-year alternative show set several series records.
Contact Rick Kissell at
rick.kissell@variety.com