60 MINUTES BEATS FOOTBALL — KINDA

It was hard to say whether it was the massive lead-in from Sunday afternoon’s NFL game on CBS that did it or the unveiling of Amazon’s planned drone delivery system, but whatever it was, it made CBS’s 60 Minutes the highest-rated show of the week, according to Nielsen Research. Not the most-watched, however. In one of those not-so-rare anomalies, NBC’s Thanksgiving Day Football game, closely fought between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens, actually drew more viewers — 21.1 million, according to Nielsen, while 60 Minutes attracted 18.1 million — but because there were fewer TV sets in use on Thanksgiving Day than on Sunday, and because ratings are based on a percentage of the total number of those sets in use, 60 Minutes wound up at the top of the ratings heap with an 11.1 rating to football’s 11.0. Meanwhile, all three evening newscasts drew audiences larger than at any time since the November 2012 election, with NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams topping 10 million viewers to end up with 10.37 million. ABC World News with Diane Sawyer also closed in on the 10-million mark with 9.04 million, while the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley saw its number improve to 7.43 million. For the week overall, CBS retained a slight lead among total adults with a 5.7 rating and a 9 share. NBC was just a shade behind with a 5.6/9. ABC placed third with a 4.3/7, while Fox trailed with a 2.3/4.