With one week to go before the second quarter draws to a close, USA Network looks to be drawing away from rival TNT in the prime-time ratings race. Per Nielsen data, USA now enjoys a slight (3 percent) lead among adults 18-49, and the latest batch of weekly ratings numbers sees the network all but sewing up the title.

USA blew out the competition in the week ended June 21, averaging 1.7 million adults 18-49, topping runner-up TNT by some 728,000 viewers. The NBC Universal cable powerhouse also put together another convincing win among total viewers, drawing an average audience of 3.95 million in prime time, while walking away with the week’s biggest deliveries of adults 25-54 (1.87 million) and viewers 18-34 (745,000).

On the week, USA posted eight of the top 10 most-watched programs on ad-supported cable, including episode three of Royal Pains, which served up 6.5 million viewers on June 18, an increase of 16 percent versus the prior week’s delivery. Also drawing a crowd to USA were Pains lead-in Burn Notice, which delivered 5.78 million viewers Thursday night at 9 p.m., and Monday night’s three-hour WWE Raw special, which averaged 5.46 million viewers between 8 p.m. and 11:07 p.m.

Five repeat episodes of USA acquisition NCIS landed in the top 10, including the Wednesday 9 p.m. installment, which averaged 5.07 million viewers.

TNT last week took second place in prime with 2.33 million total viewers. The Turner network also claimed second among its two top demos, averaging 1.09 million adults 25-54 and 974,000 viewers 18-49.

As has been the case throughout its five-season run, TNT’s original drama series The Closer put up big numbers, averaging 6.47 million viewers Monday, June 15, at 9 p.m. The second installment of the season retained 91 percent of the prior week’s audience (7.14 million).

TNT also continued to reap the whirlwind with its Nascar coverage. Last Sunday, TNT’s presentation of the Sprint Cup series delivered 5.79 million viewers between approximately 5 p.m. and 8:36 p.m., and the 10-minute post-race show averaged 5.6 million viewers.

Fox News held on to the third-place spot, averaging 2.07 million viewers, 503,000 of which were members of the core news demo. FNC once again notched its biggest deliveries with The O’Reilly Factor, which averaged 3.25 million viewers Thursday night at 8 p.m. and 3.22 million viewers on Monday night.



Fourth place on the week went to Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite, which drew 1.94 million viewers between the hours of 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. (On July 5, Nick at Nite will push its start time back to 8 p.m., a move that will synchronize the net’s prime-time schedule with the rest of ad-supported cable.)

Nickelodeon once again put up big ratings with its latest installment of iCarly, which quarter-to-date ranks as the most-watched program on broadcast and basic cable among ‘tweens 9-14 and kids 6-11. Wednesday evening’s episode delivered 4.17 million total viewers, of which 1.9 million were kids 6-11. Leading out at 8 p.m., an encore presentation of the iCarly movie iDate a Bad Boy delivered 3.87 million viewers, of which 1.4 million fell into the ‘tween demo.

Meanwhile, the Nickelodeon original TV movie Mr. Troop Mom drew 4.01 million total viewers Friday night at 8 p.m.

Closing out the top five last week was TBS, which averaged 1.6 million viewers in prime. The Turner net took second among the 18-34 set (506,000), while finishing third among adults 25-54 (841,000) and 18-49s (926,000).

On the demo front, USA’s Royal Pains nailed down the week’s top delivery of viewers 18-49, averaging 2.83 million on Monday night. Following Pains was WWE Raw (2.61 million), Burn Notice (2.48 million), TNT’s Nascar coverage and post-game show (2.47 million), Bravo’s season finale of The Real Housewives of New Jersey (2.46 million), Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch (2.4 million), the Wednesday 10 p.m. episode of NCIS (1.93 million), USA’s Tuesday night screening of the 2002 theatrical Sweet Home Alabama (1.92 million), The Closer (1.9 million) and the Wednesday 9 p.m. installment of NCIS (1.85 million).