nielsen ratings
(fast national numbers for thursday, december 15, 2011)

Here are the highlights of the 15 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks last night:

CBS (11.90 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 2.8, #1) was Thursday's top draw thanks to a repeat of "The Big Bang Theory" (10.15 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 2.8, #T1) followed by new episodes of "Rules of Engagement" (9.71 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 2.7, #T4), "Person of Interest" (12.78 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 2.8, #T1) and "The Mentalist" (12.98 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 2.7, #T4).

FOX (7.54 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 2.2, #2) then had to settle for second place with a new "The X Factor" (9.65 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 2.8, #T1) and a repeat of "Bones" (5.42 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 1.5, #T7).

Next up was ABC (5.81 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.6, #3) with an encore of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (6.41 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 1.8, #6) alongside the two-hour special "The Year With Katie Couric" (5.52 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 1.5, #T7).

Meanwhile, NBC (2.63 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.8, #4) served up repeats of "Community" (2.32 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 0.8, #T10), "Parks & Recreation" (1.79 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 0.7, #13), "The Office" (2.39 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 1.1, #9), "Whitney" (2.07 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 0.8, #T10) and a new "Prime Suspect" (3.62 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 0.8, #T10).

And finally, repeats of "The Vampire Diaries" (1.02 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T14) and "The Secret Circle" (0.87 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T14) on The CW (0.95 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.3, #5) closed out the night. In the netlet's target demo (women 18-34), "Diaries" posted a 0.5 rating while "Circle" delivered a 0.4 rating.

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49):
-6.67% - Person of Interest
-6.67% - The X Factor
-10.00% - The Mentalist
-15.63% - Rules of Engagement
-38.46% - Prime Suspect (vs. 12/1/11)

Year-to-year changes (adults 18-49):
133.33% - The X Factor (vs. Bones (Repeat))
50.00% - The Mentalist (vs. The Mentalist (Repeat))
47.37% - Person of Interest (vs. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (Repeat))
-10.00% - Rules of Engagement (vs. Bleep My Dad Says)
-36.00% - Prime Suspect (vs. The Office (Repeat))

In late-night metered market ratings (via NBC's press release):

In Nielsen's 56 metered markets, household results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 2.7/7; CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman," 3.0/8; and ABC's combo of "Nightline," 3.3/8; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 1.6/5.

In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, adult 18-49 results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 1.0/4; "Late Show," 0.8/4; "Nightline," 1.0/4; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 0.5/2.

At 12:35 a.m., "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (1.4/5 in metered-market households with an encore) tied CBS's first-run "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (1.4/5). In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, "Late Night" (0.6/4 in 18-49 with an encore) topped "Late Late Show" (0.4/3).

At 1:35 a.m., "Last Call with Carson Daly" averaged a 1.0/4 in metered-market households with an encore and a 0.4/3 in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters.

Here are the highlights of the 17 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks one year ago (12/16/10):

CBS (10.43 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 2.4, #1) was the network to beat with the only originals on the night - "The Big Bang Theory" (13.51 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 4.1, #1) and "Bleep My Dad Says" (10.47 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 3.0, #2) - followed by repeats of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (9.22 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.9, #T3) and "The Mentalist" (10.07 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.8, #5).

Second place then was split between ABC (4.48 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.4, #T2) and NBC (3.42 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.4, #T2) as the former served up repeats of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (6.39 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 1.9, #T3), "Grey's Anatomy" (3.95 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 1.2, #T11) and "Private Practice" (3.09 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 1.0, #15).

Next up was the Peacock with its all-repeat lineup of "Community" (3.19 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 1.2, #T11), "30 Rock" (3.46 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 1.4, #9), "The Office" (4.35 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 1.7, #6), "Outsourced" (3.64 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 1.5, #T7), another "The Office" (3.00 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 1.3, #10) and yet another "The Office" (2.89 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 1.2, #T11).

Meanwhile, FOX (5.16 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.3, #4) served second runs of "Bones" (5.41 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 1.2, #T11) and another "Bones" (4.91 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 1.5, #T7).

And finally, repeats of "The Vampire Diaries" (1.96 million viewers, #16; adults 18-49: 0.8, #16) and another "The Vampire Diaries" (1.57 million viewers, #17; adults 18-49: 0.6, #17) on The CW (1.77 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.7, #5) rounded out the evening.

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49): Bleep My Dad Says (11.10%), The Big Bang Theory (7.90%).

In late-night metered market ratings, ABC's "Nightline" (3.0/7) and CBS's "Letterman" (3.0/7) took top honors over NBC's "Leno" (2.7/7). Rounding out the night then were "Kimmel" (1.4/4) on ABC "Ferguson" (1.4/5) on CBS and "Fallon" (1.3/4) and "Daly" (0.8/3) on NBC.

Source: Nielsen Media Research