It is an indication of Fox’s current ratings power and ABC’s weakness that even with Sunday’s Academy Awards on ABC, Fox still nearly swept the weekly ratings race. As it was, ABC was able to eke out the tiniest of wins for adults 18-34 for the week, while Fox took everything else in the 22nd week of the 2008-9 season (February 16-22).

Fox’s average viewership of 11.84 million beat second place ABC by 700,000 average viewers. For demo adults 18-49 it was Fox over ABC by 5.69 million to 5.05 million. Fox won demo adults 25-54 over ABC by 6.36 million to 5.30 million viewers. In adults 18-34, is was ABC with 2.38 million just edging out Fox with 2.37 million for the week.

CBS went with a rerun sprinkled schedule and finished well back in the age demos, finishing 5th in adults 18-34. NBC was 4th, often distantly, across the board. They’re just sad. Univision managed a third place in adults 18-34 for the week. Notable for a week in mid-season.

Tiny Network Smackdown Update! The CW continues to struggle, beaten by MyNetworkTV in average viewers and adults 25-54 and tieing them for adults 18-49, winning only in adults 18-34.

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Nielsen TV Ratings Data: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.