NFL draft has turned into a hit among viewers

NEW YORK — The NFL draft has become such a popular television event that the first round on ESPN seemed to steal viewers from some of the biggest networks' Thursday shows.

An estimated 7.3 million watched the draft Thursday, its ratings up 23 percent from 2009, the Nielsen Co. said. ESPN's three days of draft coverage, two of them in prime time, drew the biggest audience this event has ever received.

Meanwhile, CBS' "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" had the third-smallest audience in the show's history. NBC's "Community" and "Marriage Ref" had series lows, and "The Office" had its smallest audience since moving to Thursdays in 2006, Nielsen said.

The first night of "America: The Story of Us" on History on Sunday grabbed 5.7 million viewers, Nielsen said. That's second only to an episode of "Pawn Stars" for the most-watched show in the cable network's history.

Once a proven performer, the "Hallmark Hall of Fame" movie on CBS was a disappointment Sunday. The movie "Love is Not Enough" barely had 7 million viewers.

The premiere of ABC's "Romantically Challenged" comedy had a strong audience for its premiere, ranking No. 15 in the ratings with 10.7 million viewers.

Despite some sagging numbers for "American Idol," the emergence of "Glee" as a strong performer helped Fox win the week with an average prime-time viewership of 9.2 million (5.4 rating, 9 share). CBS had 8.4 million (5.3, 9), ABC had 7.4 million (4.7, 8), NBC had 5.7 million (3.7, 6), the CW had 1.7 million (1.1, 2) and ION Television had 920,000 (0.6, 1).

Among the Spanish-language networks, Univision led with an average of 3.3 million viewers in prime time (1.7 rating, 3 share). Telemundo had 1.1 million (0.6, 1), TeleFutura had 850,000 (0.4, 1), Estrella had 300,000 and Azteca 220,000 (both 0.1, 0).

NBC's "Nightly News" topped the evening newscasts with an average of 7.6 million viewers (5.1, 11). ABC's "World News" was second with 7.1 million (4.8, 10), and the "CBS Evening News" had 5.1 million viewers.

The top 20

(AP) — Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by the Nielsen Co. for April 19-25. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership.

1. "Dancing With the Stars," ABC, 21.07 million.

2. "American Idol" (Tuesday), Fox, 19.67 million.

3. "American Idol" (Wednesday), Fox, 18.82 million.

4. "The Mentalist," CBS, 14.96 million.

5. "Dancing With the Stars Results," ABC, 13.56 million.

6. "CSI," CBS, 13.35 million.

7. "Glee," Fox, 12.98 million.

8. "Survivor," CBS, 11.89 million.

9. "Big Bang Theory," CBS, 11.664 million.

10. "CSI: Miami," CBS, 11.661 million.

11. "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 11.42 million.

12. "60 Minutes," CBS, 11.38 million.

13. "Desperate Housewives," ABC, 11.29 million.

14. "House," Fox, 10.82 million.

15. "Romantically Challenged," ABC, 10.67 million.

16. "Amazing Race 16," CBS, 10.65 million.

17. "Castle," ABC, 10.39 million.

18. "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 10.27 million.

19. "NCIS," CBS, 9.99 million.

20. "Lost," ABC, 9.53 million.