TV Ratings: Football Dominates

Al Roker, Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb

Nielsen said 23.7 million people watched coverage of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in New York, making it the most popular entertainment program on television since the Oscars. Last year’s show was seen by 24.1 million. NBC’s parade coverage was hosted by Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Al Roker this year, reports the Associated Press.

Football dominated the prime-time ratings over Thanksgiving week, giving NBC a big edge. NBC averaged 9.1 million viewers, CBS had 6.4 million, ABC had 4.6 million, Fox had 2.9 million, ION Television had 1.5 million, Univision had 1.2 million, Telemundo had 1.1 million and the CW had 1 million.

According to TVNewser citing Nielsen live-plus-same-day data, 60 Minutes drew 13 million total viewers, making the Nov. 25 broadcast the No. 5 show of the week in total viewers. The episode also ranked No. 7 for the week among the key A25-54 demo, the one that matters most to news advertisers.

The legendary newsmagazine seems to be on a roll as of late, ranking in the top 10 during four consecutive weeks, and in the top 5 among total viewers for seven of the past nine weeks. Aided by CBS’ highest-rated NFL broadcast of the season, this past week’s edition of 60 Minutes ended up being the most-watched non-sports telecast of the day.

ESPN was the week’s most popular cable network, averaging 4.3 million in prime time. Hallmark averaged 2.67 million, Fox News Channel had 1.55 million, MSNBC had 1.19 million and USA had 1.13 million.

NBC’s “Nightly News” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 9.2 million viewers. ABC’s “World News Tonight” was second with 8.9 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 6.5 million viewers.

Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Nov. 19-25. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership

1. “NFL Post-Game Show,” Fox, 23.36 million
2. NFL Football: Atlanta at New Orleans, NBC, 21.73 million
3. NFL Football: Green Bay at Minnesota, NBC, 20.44 million
4. NFL Football: Kansas City at L.A. Rams, ESPN, 16.89m
5. “NFL Pre-Game Show” (Thursday), NBC, 15.33 million
6. “NFL Pre-Game Show” (Sunday), NBC, 14.17 million
7. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 12.96 million
8. “NCIS,” CBS, 11.95 million
9. “Football Night in America,” NBC, 10.71 million
10. “NFL Pre-Game Show, Part 2” (Thursday), NBC, 9.6 million

11. “FBI,” CBS, 8.92 million
12. “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC, 8.23 million
13. “God Friended Me,” CBS, 8.09 million
14. “This is Us,” NBC, 7.92 million
15. “The Voice” (Monday), NBC, 7.884 million
16. “Dancing With the Stars,” ABC, 7.883 million
17. College Football: Notre Dame at USC, ABC, 7.74 million
18. “NCIS: New Orleans,” CBS, 7.47 million
19. “Football Night in America, Part 2,” NBC, 7.32 million
20. “NCIS: Los Angeles,” CBS, 7.2 million