Updated for 2011-12: Network Averages in the 2000s

Most of my averages on the blog are my own home-brewed Live + Same Day averages, but this yearly post is the one time I use Nielsen's "Most Current" averages. Here are how the big four networks have lined up over the last twelve years. 2011-12 marked the first time since 2003-04 that NBC beat another big-four network outright, though they owe most of the credit for that to the Super Bowl. Fox won its eighth consecutive season but appears vulnerable next season as fast-closing CBS gets the Bowl.

	2000-01	Notes
ABC	4.4
CBS	4.0	Super Bowl
NBC	4.8
Fox	4.5

	2001-02	Notes
ABC	3.6
CBS	3.9
NBC	5.2	Winter Olympics
Fox	4.0	Super Bowl

	2002-03	Notes
ABC	3.8	Super Bowl
CBS	3.8
NBC	4.5
Fox	4.3

	2003-04	Notes
ABC	3.2
CBS	3.95*	Super Bowl
NBC	4.2
Fox	4.1

*- The number I saw for CBS came before finals were available on the last day of the season, and it wasn't certain whether it'd end up being a 3.9 or 4.0. So I went with 3.95, which is likely more accurate than the other two numbers would be.

	2004-05	Notes
ABC	3.7
CBS	4.0
NBC	3.5
Fox	4.1	Super Bowl

	2005-06	Notes
ABC	4.0	Super Bowl
CBS	3.8
NBC	3.3	Winter Olympics
Fox	4.1

	2006-07	Notes
ABC	3.5
CBS	3.7	Super Bowl
NBC	3.1
Fox	4.0

	2007-08*	Notes
ABC	3.0
CBS	3.0
NBC	2.8
Fox	4.2	Super Bowl

*- This was the WGA strike year, which shortened the seasons of most scripted shows. This was felt most on ABC and CBS as they have the heaviest reliance on scripted series.

	2008-09	Notes
ABC	2.9
CBS	3.1
NBC	2.8	Super Bowl
Fox	3.6

	2009-10	Notes
ABC	2.7
CBS	3.2	Super Bowl
NBC	2.7	Winter Olympics
Fox	3.7

	2010-11	Notes
ABC	2.5
CBS	2.9
NBC	2.3
Fox	3.5	Super Bowl

	2011-12	Notes
ABC	2.4
CBS	3.0
NBC	2.5	Super Bowl
Fox	3.2

The networks' hierarchy is exactly the same in Live + SD, but each net's number is about 20% lower. My Live + Same Day numbers for 2011-12 say Fox 2.7, CBS 2.5, NBC 2.1, ABC 2.0.