TV Ratings: Bowl Games Pull Viewers For ESPN

With a feast of football, ESPN outpaced all of the broadcasters to be the most-watched network on television during holiday week, reports The Associated Press citing Nielsen data.

The showcase was ESPN’s college football championship semi-finals, which together averaged 19.3 million viewers and outpaced last year’s games by 6%, the Nielsen company said. Credit goes primarily to the Clemson-Ohio State pairing, which matched two undefeated teams in a pulsating game not decided until the final minute.

Those games, plus a Monday night NFL contest between Minnesota and Green Bay, helped ESPN beat NBC to be the most popular network.

Among the broadcast networks, NBC averaged 5.6 million viewers in prime time. CBS had 3.8 million, ABC had 3 million, Fox had 2.6 million, Univision had 1.31 million, ION Television reached 1.27 million, Telemundo had 760,000 and the CW had 590,000.

⏩ Broadcast Prime-Time (Total Viewers):

1. NFL Football: San Francisco at Seattle, NBC, 22.85 million.
2. College Football Championship Semifinal: Clemson vs. Ohio State, ESPN, 20.39 million.
3. “College Football Studio Show,” ESPN, 17.3 million.
4. College Football Championship Semifinal: Oklahoma vs. LSU, ESPN, 16.68 million.
5. “NFL Pregame Show,” NBC, 15.84 million.
6. NFL Football: Green Bay at Minnesota, ESPN, 13.97 million.
7. “Football Night in America, Part 3,” NBC, 10.47 million.
8. “The OT,” Fox, 9.91 million.
9. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 8.12 million.
10. NBA Basketball: L.A. Clippers at L.A. Lakers, ABC, 7 million.

11. “Monday Night Kickoff,” ESPN, 6.79 million.
12. “The Price is Right,” CBS, 5.89 million.
13. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 5.3 million.
14. “Hawaii Five-0,” CBS, 4.78 million.
15. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 4.76 million.
16. “NCIS,” CBS, 4.69 million.
17. “Magnum P.I.,” CBS, 4.47 million.
18. “Football Night in America, Part 2,” NBC, 4.06 million.
19. “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” ABC, 4 million.
20. “FBI,” CBS, 3.99 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” averaged 8.1 million to top the network evening newcasts. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 7.3 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5 million.

ESPN’s average of 6.31 million in prime time outpaced everyone. Fox News Channel was second among cable networks, with an average of 1.72 million, Hallmark’s slate of holiday shows reached 1.54 million, TBS had 1.03 million and TLC had 982,000.

Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity

Despite a number of controversies and criticism from the president, Fox News saw its biggest year ever in 2019, attracting the highest number of viewers in its 23-year history.

According to ratings from Nielsen, Fox hit an average of 2.5 million viewers per night in 2019, making it the top-rated basic cable network. Fox easily beat out third-place MSNBC, which attracted an average 1.75 million viewers.

The network also aired four of the top five most-watched shows on cable news in 2019, with its right-wing programs Hannity and Tucker Carlson Tonight each drawing an average of more than three million viewers.