CBS, ABC grab top rankings, NBC improves

The first sweeps period of the 2006-07 season came to a close Wednesday, which means the networks have been busy for the past couple of days telling us how great they did.

It's sort of like college football in the pre-BCS days: Who was No. 1 depended on whose numbers you were seeing. So consequently, three networks -- ABC, CBS and NBC -- are trumpeting success in November, while newcomer The CW is making marginal gains over its predecessors. And FOX -- well, FOX is just happy to be that much closer to the premiere of "American Idol."

Here's how things break down:

The numbers: CBS had the most viewers during sweeps, drawing just over 13 million viewers per night. ABC was second with 11.6 million, followed by NBC, 10.5 million; FOX, 7.4 million, and The CW, 3.6 million.

In the adults 18-49 demographic that advertisers love so much, ABC was first with a 4.1 rating. CBS and NBC tied for second at 3.8. Then comes FOX (3.0) and The CW (1.5).

Who's up: NBC. For all the talk about struggling series like "Studio 60" and "Friday Night Lights," NBC is the only network to post across-the-board-gains compared to last November. It added close to a million viewers (up from 9.55 million) and improved by 15 percent among adults 18-49 (going from 3.3 to 3.8). Part of the increase comes from "Sunday Night Football," but "Heroes" -- the top-rated new series of sweeps -- "ER" and "Deal or No Deal" helped as well.

Who's down: The other Big Four networks. CBS can crow about its total-viewer victory, but it's down by more than a million people compared to last November and by 14 percent among adults 18-49. ABC is off a little too, losing a hundred thousand viewers or so and a couple tenths of a point in the 18-49 demo. That's not unexpected since the network no longer has "Monday Night Football," so to lose only a small sliver of audience isn't that bad.

As for FOX, it lost about 300,000 viewers and two tenths of a point in adults 18-49 from last year's lackluster November showing, with "House" and to a lesser extent "Prison Break" and "Bones" being the sole bright spots. But with "American Idol" and its halo effect, plus "24," due in January, the network should climb out of its hole and be competitive by the end of the season.

The CW: For obvious reasons, it's hard to compare a brand-new network's results to what happened last year. The CW itself is using numbers for The WB last year as a benchmark, since both program 13 hours of primetime per week (UPN had only 10 hours). Compared The WB last November, The C-Dub improved by a tenth of a point (1.6 vs. 1.5) in its target demographic of adults 18-34 and two tenths (2.1 vs. 1.9) in women 18-34.

For the season as a whole, The CW is drawing somewhat fewer total viewers (3.46 million) than either The WB (3.59 million) or UPN (3.61 million) were at this time last year.