By David Bauder, Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Mulder and Scully received a big assist from the NFL in attracting more than 16 million television viewers to the premiere of their return in Fox’s “The X-Files.”
Fox’s iconic series starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson is back for a limited run, and Fox schedulers smiled on them by booking the show directly after the NFC championship game between Arizona and Carolina. That game was seen by 45.7 million people on Sunday, the Nielsen company said.
While more people watched “NCIS” last week, “The X-Files” had more than twice as many viewers as any other scripted series among viewers aged 18-to-49, Nielsen said. That’s the audience Fox cares the most about.
CBS’ coverage of the AFC championship between New England and Denver wasn’t in primetime, but it was seen by an average of 53.3 million viewers Sunday on CBS. That made it the top-rated AFC championship game in 30 years, Nielsen said.
As the game was reaching its conclusion, CBS’ telecast hit a peak of 63 million viewers between 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. EST.
The NFC championship helped Fox to an easy ratings win, with the network averaging 13.2 million viewers in prime time. CBS had 8.7 million, NBC had 4.9 million, ABC had 4 million, Univision had 2.1 million, the CW had 2 million, Telemundo had 1.5 million and ION Television had 1.4 million.
Fox News Channel was the week’s most popular cable network, averaging 2.05 million viewers in prime time. HGTV had 1.73 million, USA had 1.69 million, TBS had 1.67 million and Discovery had 1.6 million.
NBC’s “Nightly News” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 10.3 million viewers. ABC’s “World News Tonight” was second with 9.8 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 8.5 million viewers.
Below are primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Jan. 18-24. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.
1. NFL Football: NFC Championship, Arizona at Carolina, Fox, 45.74 million.
2. “NFC Championship Post-Game Show,” Fox, 33.9 million.
3. “The OT,” Fox, 24.32 million.
4. “NCIS,” CBS, 17.51 million.
5. “The X-Files,” Fox, 16.19 million.
6. “NCIS: New Orleans,” CBS, 13.31 million.
7. “Scorpion,” CBS, 11.61 million.
8. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 11.56 million.
9. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 11.09 million.
10. “NCIS: Los Angeles,” CBS, 10.64 million.
11. “Hawaii Five-O,” CBS, 10.07 million.
12. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 9.69 million.
13. “American Idol” (Thursday), Fox, 9.36 million.
14. “Criminal Minds,” CBS, 9.25 million.
15. “American Idol” (Wednesday), Fox, 9.22 million.
16. “Life in Pieces,” CBS, 8.78 million.
17. “Supergirl,” CBS, 8.77 million.
18. “Mom,” CBS, 8.49 million.
19. “60 Minutes” (Sunday, 8 p.m.), CBS, 8.32 million.
20. “Chicago Fire,” NBC, 8.16 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 — 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