TV Ratings: Football On NBC Dominates

Tampa Bay Bucs quarterback Tom Brady helped NBC to a smashing audience of 24.8 million viewers for the NFL kickoff game, where he took on and defeated the Dallas Cowboys. That’s up from last year’s season opener, which reached 19.3 million, reports The Associated Press citing Nielsen data.

It was a less attractive matchup for the season debut of “Sunday Night Football,” where the Chicago Bears and L.A. Rams were seen by 17.6 million. That’s down from the 2020 season debut of the Sunday night franchise, seen by 18.9 million.

Two prime-time football games led NBC to a weekly ratings win, as it averaged 7.8 million viewers. CBS had 3.5 million viewers in prime time, ABC had 3 million, Fox had 2.4 million, Univision had 1.4 million, Ion Television had 1.12 million and Telemundo had 1.06 million.

➤Top 20 Rated TV Shows:

1. NFL Football: Dallas at Tampa Bay, NBC, 24.81 million.

2. NFL Football: Chicago at L.A. Rams,” NBC, 17.64 million.

3. “NFL Pregame” (Thursday), NBC, 16.21 million.

4. “NFL Pregame” (Sunday), NBC, 12.81 million.

5. “NFL Kickoff,” NBC, 10.42 million.

6. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 9.98 million.

7. “Football Night in America, Part 3,” NBC, 9.97 million.

8. “America’s Got Talent” (Tuesday), NBC, 6.9 million.

9. “Football Night in America, Part 2,” NBC, 6.5 million.

10. “America’s Got Talent” (Wednesday), NBC, 5.95 million.

11. “The O.T.,” Fox, 5.78 million.

12. College Football: Washington at Michigan, ABC, 4.75 million.

13. “Big Brother” (Sunday), CBS, 4.223 million.

14. “Celebrity Family Feud,” ABC, 4.218 million.

15. “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” ABC, 4.07 million.

16. “Big Brother” (Wednesday), CBS, 3.89 million.

17. “Big Brother” (Thursday), CBS, 3.86 million.

18. “FBI” (Thursday, 8 p.m.), CBS, 3.42 million.

19. “FBI” (Thursday, 9 p.m.), CBS, 3.37 million.

20. “20/20” (Friday, 9 p.m.), ABC, 3.34 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” won the evening news ratings race, averaging 7.8 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 6.4 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 4.6 million.

Fox News Channel led the cable networks in prime time, averaging 2.23 million viewers. ESPN had 1.89 million, HGTV had 1.07 million, MSNBC had 1.06 million and TLC had 910,000.

TV Newser reports The Five finished the week as the most-watched cable news show with 3.08 million total viewers. Notably, The Five’s Thursday Sept. 9 telecast was No. 1 hour of the week in basic cable. President Biden’s remarks on fighting the pandemic aired during the 5 p.m. ET hour. The Five also posted 444,000 adults 25-54.  Tucker Carlson Tonight, which featured guest-hosts throughout the week, still delivered the highest-rated cable news show of the week among adults 25-54 (508,000 demo viewers).

On Saturday, during special coverage of the 20th anniversary of 9/11, FNC dominated the cable news competition beating CNN and MSNBC in every hour of the day in average total viewers (CNN beat Fox News and MSNBC in the primetime demo on 9/11).

Meanwhile at late night, "Gutfeld!" defeated all late-night programs on both broadcast and cable television last week, averaging 2,026,000 viewers and 395,000 in the demo, beating CBS' "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," NBC's The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon," and ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" 

It's the fourth straight week that Fox's Greg Gutfeld was the most-watched host in late-night television with total viewers.