Primetime Ratings: CBS Wins With March Madness Lead-In
By Michael Malone published

CBS won Sunday honors in primetime, riding a husky March Madness lead-in to a 1.5 in viewers 18-49, per the Nielsen overnights, and a 6 share. That beat the 1.1/5 that ABC had with three hours of American Idol.
After a Duke-Michigan State barnburner, 60 Minutes did a 3.0 on CBS, down 14% from last Sunday’s March Madness-boosted score. God Friended Me was a flat 1.2. NCIS: Los Angeles went up 11% to 1.0 and Madam Secretary was a level 0.7.
On ABC, America’s Funniest Home Videos did a flat 0.9 and three hours of American Idol from Hawaii a 1.3, 1.2 and 1.1. That averaged out to the same 1.2 Idol did last week.
Fox was at 0.7/3. Comedy reruns aired alongside a fresh Simpsons at 0.8 and Family Guy at 0.9, both animated comedies flat.
NBC did a 0.6/3 with an Ellen’s Game of Games rerun, then two hours of World of Dance at 0.7 before Good Girls got a 0.5. Both shows were down a tenth.
Univision did a 0.5/2 and Telemundo a 0.4/2.
The CW rated a 0.2/1. Supergirl did a 0.3 and Charmed a 0.2, both dramas flat.
Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.
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