CBS's NCIS Tops 'American Idol' in Key Tuesday Night Demos

NCIS topped "American Idol" in adults 18-49 and adults 25-54 in The Common hour for the first time ever, while NCIS: Los Angeles delivered a larger audience in The Common hour than "Idol" for the first time, according to Nielsen preliminary live plus same day ratings for Tuesday, March 5.

NCIS was first in households (12.6/19), viewers (20.35m), adults 25-54 (5.1/13) and adults 18-49 (3.3/10) at 8:00 PM. NCIS beat NBC, ABC, FOX (with "American Idol") and CW combined by +320,000 viewers (vs. 20.03m). NCIS posted more than 20 million viewers live plus same day for the last seven first-run episodes. NCIS beat an "American Idol" broadcast in their common hour for the first time ever in both adults 25-54 (+0.9 rating point) and adults 18-49 (+0.1 rating point) and by the largest margin ever in viewers (+9.46m). NCIS was the night's #1 program in viewers and adults 25-54.

NCIS: Los Angeles was first in households (9.8/15), viewers (15.95m) and second in both adults 25-54 (4.2/10) and adults 18-49 (2.8/07). NCIS: Los Angeles beat an "American Idol" broadcast in their common hour for the first time ever in households (+2.5 rating points) and viewers (+3.85m) and was in its closest competitive position in both adults 25-54 (-0.4 rating point) and adults 18-49 (-0.7 rating point).

At 10:00 PM, Golden Boy was first in households (6.1/10), viewers (9.27m), adults 25-54 (2.5/06) and adults 18-49 (1.6/05).

For the night, CBS was first in households (9.5/15) and viewers (15.19m), and was second in both adults 25-54 (3.9/09) and adults 18-49 (2.6/07).

Updated Tuesday ratings will be available later today.