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Wednesday, September 22, 2021

TV Ratings: Football Dominates The Landscape


Football again dominated the TV ratings last week. One notable game came Saturday afternoon, CBS’ college telecast of Alabama against Florida. With 7.86 million viewers, and a peak of 11.59 million just before its conclusion, it was the network’s most-watched SEC season-opener since 2013.

NBC was the most popular network in prime time, averaging 5.3 million viewers. ABC had 4.9 million, CBS had 4.4 million, Fox had 1.8 million, Univision had 1.3 million, Telemundo had 1.07 million and Ion Television had 1.06 million.

The 20 Most-Watched Shows:

1. NFL Football: Kansas City at Baltimore, NBC, 19.81 million.

2. “NFL Pregame” (Sunday), NBC, 14.72 million.

3. “NFL Postgame” (Sunday), CBS, 14.5 million.

4. NFL Football: Baltimore at Las Vegas, ABC, 14.46 million.

5. “NFL Postgame” (Sunday), Fox, 11.37 million.

6. “Football Night in America, Part 3,” NBC, 10.3 million.

7. “NFL Pregame” (Monday), ABC, 8.44 million.

8. “Emmy Awards,” CBS, 7.83 million.

9. College Football: Auburn at Penn State, ABC, 7.61 million.

10. NFL Football: Baltimore at Las Vegas, ESPN, 7.57 million.

11. “America’s Got Talent” (Tuesday), NBC, 7.43 million.

12. NFL Football: N.Y. Giants at Washington, NFLN, 7.33 million.

13. “America’s Got Talent” (Wednesday), NBC, 6.39 million.

14. “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” ABC, 4.46 million.

15. “NFL Pregame” (Monday), ESPN, 4.33 million.

16. “Celebrity Family Feud,” ABC, 4.13 million.

17. “Big Brother” (Wednesday), CBS, 4.05 million.

18. “Big Brother” (Thursday), CBS, 3.91 million.

19. “Football Night in America, Part 2,” NBC, 3.91 million.

20. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Tuesday), Fox News, 3.78 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” led the evening newscasts with an average of 7.9 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 6.6 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 4.8 million.

Fox News Channel led the cable networks in prime time, averaging 2.63 million viewers. ESPN had 1.94 million, MSNBC had 1.33 million, HGTV had 1.06 million and Hallmark had 894,000.


TV Newser reports Tucker Carlson Tonight finished the week as the most-watched cable news show with 3.42 million total viewers. The program also finished No. 1 among adults 25-54, averaging 569,000 in the measurement. The Five was the No. 2 cable news show of the week, averaging 3.11 million total viewers and No. 3 in the A25-54 demo (449,000). Hannity ranked No. 3 in total viewers (3.07 million) and No. 2 in the demo (478,000).




Meanwhile, The Associated Press reports The “Monday Night Football” presentation with Peyton and Eli Manning increased its viewership by 138% over last week’s debut, becoming the most-watched alternate telecast in ESPN history.

ESPN and Nielsen reported that the Mannings’ freewheeling telecast of the Green Bay Packers’ 35-17 victory over the Detroit Lions on ESPN2 averaged 1.9 million viewers. The Week 1 overtime thriller between the Baltimore Ravens and Las Vegas Raiders averaged 800,000.

The previous high for an ESPN alternate presentation was 1.03 million for the January 2018 College Football Playoff championship game between Alabama and Georgia on ESPN2.

Monday night’s game had an overall average of 13.81 million across ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN Deportes.

The Mannings are scheduled to do eight more Monday night games this season, including next week’s contest between the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys. The remaining seven have not been determined.

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