‘America’s Got Talent’ tops TV’s Nielsen ratings

NEW YORK (AP) — Competition at athletic venues dominated the agenda for television viewers last week, but none was as popular as a competition on stage.

“America’s Got Talent,” which is well-established as TV’s favorite live show of the summer, reached seven million viewers last week with auditions for its 16th season on NBC, the Nielsen company said.

ABC found some viewers for its premiere of “When Nature Calls,” where Helen Mirren narrates comedic film clips from the wild, a reboot of a BBC series.

Otherwise, the NBA conference finals and Olympic trials drew many TV viewers.

NBC won the week with an average of 3.5 million viewers in prime time. CBS had 3 million, ABC had 2.7 million, Fox had 1.7 million, Univision had 1.2 million, Ion Television had 1.02 million and Telemundo had 990,000.

ESPN won a tight race for cable supremacy, averaging 2.19 million viewers in prime time. TNT had 2.18 million, Fox News Channel had 2.15 million, MSNBC had 1.32 million and HGTV had 1.13 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” was the most popular evening news show, averaging 7.8 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 6.3 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 4.7 million.

For the week of June 21-27, the 20 most popular programs, their networks and viewerships:

1. “America’s Got Talent,” NBC, 7.01 million.

2. “Olympic Trials: Women’s Gymnastics” (Sunday), NBC, 5.75 million.

3. NBA Conference Finals: Milwaukee at Atlanta (Sunday), TNT, 5.6 million.

4. NBA Conference Finals: Phoenix at L.A. Clippers (Saturday), ESPN, 5.54 million.

5. NBA Conference Finals: Phoenix at L.A. Clippers (Thursday), ESPN, 5.33 million.

6. NBA Conference Finals: Atlanta at Milwaukee (Wednesday), TNT, 5.3 million.

7. NBA Conference Finals: L.A. Clippers at Phoenix (Tuesday), ESPN, 5.27 million.

8. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 5.04 million.

9. “Olympic Trials: Women’s Gymnastics” (Friday), NBC, 4.59 million.

10. “Celebrity Family Feud,” ABC, 4.38 million.

11. “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” ABC, 4.35 million.

12. “NCIS,” CBS, 4.16 million.

13. “Olympic Trials: Track & Field” (Monday), NBC, 3.97 million.

14. “United States of Al,” CBS, 3.83 million.

15. NBA Conference Finals: Atlanta at Milwaukee (Friday), TNT, 3.7 million.

16. “When Nature Calls,” ABC, 3.698 million.

17. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 3.67 million.

18. “FBI,” CBS, 3.65 million.

19. “The Neighborhood,” CBS, 3.58 million.

20. “The $100,000 Pyramid,” ABC, 3.56 million.

David Bauder, The Associated Press