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Thursday, July 20, 2023

TV Ratings: All-Star Coverage Dominated The Week

Viewership for Major League Baseball's All-Star Game set a record low for the fourth time in its last five editions, but was still the most-watched all-star game in sports for the eighth consecutive year it has been played.

Fox's coverage of the National League's 3-2 victory over the American League at T-Mobile Park in Seattle on July 11 averaged 7.006 million viewers, the most among prime-time broadcast and cable programs airing between July 10 and Sunday, according to a posting at KFI radio citing live-plus-same-day figures released by Nielsen.

The previous low was 7.507 million last year for the American League's 3-2 victory at Dodger Stadium. There was no All-Star Game in 2020 because of the delayed start to the season caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Viewership figures are available dating back to 1972, except for the 1974 and 1981 games. Fox has carried each All-Star Game since 2001.

The total viewership was 7.091 million viewers, which includes the Spanish-language network Fox Deportes. The total viewership among viewers ages 18-49, the group most coveted by advertisers, was 2.17 million, a 6% increase over the 2.04 million for the 2022 game, the first increase among the group since 2017.

The record audience for the All-Star Game came in 1976, when an average of 36.33 million viewers watched ABC's coverage in an era when there were three major broadcast networks and few other television alternatives.

The Home Run Derby was the week's only other prime-time program to average more than 6 million viewers, averaging a combined 6.11 million viewers on ESPN and ESPN2, the most for any program on ESPN this summer.

Official viewership for most forms of programming is down compared to the past primarily due to higher viewership of streaming programming, including the same programs shown on traditional television, as well as increased options for leisure time.

"America's Got Talent" extended its streak of being the most-watched non-sports prime-time program for each of its six episodes, despite averaging a season-low 5.615 million viewers opposite the All-Star Game. Its previous season low was 5.963 million viewers June 13.

CBS had five of the week's 10 most-watched programs -- "60 Minutes," three reruns of "The Price is Right at Night" and a "Young Sheldon" rerun -- to finish first in the network race for the fourth consecutive week, averaging 2.57 million viewers.

Fox finished second, averaging 2.36 million viewers for its 17 hours, 33 minutes of prime-time programming. Its most-watched program outside of the All-Star Game was the professional wrestling program "WWE's Friday Night Smackdown," 34th for the week, averaging 2.302 million viewers.

NBC finished third among the major broadcast networks for the second consecutive week following back-to-back second-place finishes, averaging 2.29 million viewers.

ABC averaged 2.17 million viewers to finish fourth, one week after finishing second. A rerun of "America's Funniest Home Videos" was its most- watched program, averaging 3.211 million viewers, finishing 11th.

CBS, NBC and ABC all aired 22 hours of prime-time programming.

The 20 most-watched prime-time programs consisted of Fox's coverage of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game; the ESPN and ESPN2 simulcasts of the Home Run Derby and 19-minute preview show; the NBC alternative series "America's Got Talent" and "American Ninja Warrior" and the finale of its scripted series "The Blacklist"; CBS' "60 Minutes"; Univision's coverage of Sunday's CONCACAF Gold Cup final between Mexico and Panama and Wednesday's semifinal between Mexico and Jamaica; three reruns of "The Price is Right at Night" on CBS; reruns of four CBS scripted series; and four episodes of ABC alternative series.

Fox News Channel was the most-watched cable network for the third consecutive week and fourth time in five weeks, averaging 1.449 million viewers. It was first among cable news networks for the fifth consecutive week and 125th time in 126 weeks.

ESPN was second, averaging 1.22 million viewers and MSNBC third, averaging 1.139 million.

CNN was third among cable news networks and 13th overall, averaging 541,000 viewers.

Graphics Courtesy of RoadMN


The Five is the No. 1 show on cable news for the 12th consecutive week, averaging 2.51 million total viewers at 5 p.m. for the week of July 10. Fox News had nine of the 10 most-watched cable news shows of the week, including the top seven. MSNBC placed The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell at No. 8.

📺STREAMING TV

Netflix's most-watched title was "King The Land," with viewers spending 51.8 million hours watching the Korean drama.

"The Out-Laws" was Netflix's most-watched film for the second consecutive week, with viewers spending 46.3 million hours watching the romantic action comedy the first full week it was available, 46.1% more than the 31.7 million hours watched the previous week when it was available for three days.

📺BROADCAST EVENING NEWS

ABC's "World News Tonight with David Muir" was the most-watched nightly newscast for the 241st time in 242 weeks, averaging 7.372 million viewers. "NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt" was second, averaging 5.782 million viewers. The "CBS Evening News with Norah O'Donnell" was third, averaging 4.284 million viewers.

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