By Frazier Moore, Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Another week of football meant another winning week for NBC, according to the Nielsen company. A pair of NFL face-offs handed NBC the week’s most-watched and third-ranked programs, Nielsen said Tuesday.
But NBC had more in its playbook: a solid new hit drama. Although “This Is Us” isn’t the fall’s biggest new hit -CBS’s “Bull” took the No. 7 slot last week – this gentle family drama continued to make NBC proud, landing in the No. 9 position with nearly 11 million viewers.
Also contributing to the cause, though not as much as NBC might have hoped, was its annual live musical. “Hairspray Live!” sung-and-danced its way to an 18th place showing with 9 million viewers.
To no one’s surprise, the half-season finale of “The Walking Dead” was a ratings highlight for AMC, taking 11th place with more than 10 million viewers.
In prime time for the week, NBC averaged 10.61 million viewers. CBS was second with 7.76 million viewers, Fox and ABC were tied with 4.49 million, Univision had 1.78 million, Telemundo had 1.53 million, the CW had 1.47 million and ION Television had 1.22 million.
Fox News Channel remained the most popular cable network last week, averaging 2.51 million viewers in prime time. Hallmark had 2.27 million, while ESPN had 2.22 million.
“NBC Nightly News’” won the week’s evening news race, averaging 9.18 million viewers to 9.11 million for “ABC World News Tonight.” The “CBS Evening News” had 7.62 million.
Below are primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Dec. 5-11. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.
1. NFL Football: Dallas at New York Giants, NBC, 26.50 million.
2. “Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick,” NBC, 19.00 million.
3. NFL Football: Oakland at Kansas City, NBC, 17.40 million.
4. “NCIS,” CBS, 14.69 million.
5. “Football Night in America,” NBC, 12.91 million.
6. “The OT,” Fox, 11.89 million.
7. “Bull,” CBS, 11.68 million.
8. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 11.13 million.
9. “This is Us,” NBC, 10.95 million.
10. NFL Football Pre-Kick: Oakland at Kansas City, NBC, 10.88 million.
11. “The Walking Dead,” AMC, 10.59 million.
12. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 10.18 million.
13. “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC, 10.16 million viewers.
14. “The Voice” (Monday), NBC, 10.08 million.
15. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 9.67 million.
16. “Hawaii Five-O,” CBS, 9.40 million.
17. “NCIS: New Orleans,” CBS, 9.36 million.
18. “Hairspray Live!,” NBC, 9.05 million.
19. “Survivor,” CBS, 8.50 million.
20. NFL Football: Indianapolis at NY Jets, ESPN, 8.093 million.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads โ essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More