Among the top five English-language U.S. broadcast networks –– NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox and The CW — the average prime-time viewership sank 21% to 4.35 million per program for the just-completed TV 2020-2021 TV season, looking at Nielsen-metric L7 data, says  MediaPost.  This drop in viewership is especially eyebrow raising considering most people were confined, at home, because of COVID-19.

MediaPost reports that a year ago, for all prime-time shows, “the average viewership per program was 5.48 million.

“Taking out major prime-time sports, just six prime-time entertainment shows — scripted/unscripted — earned 10 million or more Nielsen-measured viewers for its live programming-plus-seven days of time-shifted viewing.

“A year ago, there were 16 shows that topped more than 10 million viewers.”

CBS’ “NCIS” was the most-viewed non-sports show this past year — down 18% to 12.6 million viewers. It held the same top honor a year ago, with 15.4 million viewers.

More here.

CBS photo of Mark Harmon wh0 plays Leroy Jethro Gibbs on NCIS.