TV Ratings: Football Helps CBS Dominate

The New England Patriots’ thrilling victory over the Kansas City Chiefs was seen by 53.92 million viewers on Sunday, according to The Associated Press citing Nielsen data. That’s up 22 percent from the Patriots’ victory over Jacksonville last year, and the most watched AFC championship since 2011.

Sunday’s afternoon game, where the Los Angeles Rams beat the New Orleans Saints with the help of a referee’s bad call, was seen by 44.2 million people, Nielsen said. That’s up 4 percent over last year’s contest between Philadelphia and Minnesota.

With the AFC championship on Sunday night, CBS cruised to a dominant weekly victory in the prime-time ratings, averaging 14.2 million viewers. NBC averaged 5 million viewers in prime-time, ABC had 4.1 million, Fox had 3.2 million, Univision had 1.4 million, ION Television had 1.3 million, Telemundo had 1.2 million and the CW had 1 million.

Fox News Channel was the week’s most popular cable network, averaging 2.19 million viewers in prime-time. MSNBC had 2.01 million, Hallmark had 1.36 million, HGTV had 1.23 million and USA had 1.22 million.

Fox News beat its competition in the relevant categories, but it posted losses vs. the comparable week last year of -17 percent in total prime time viewers, -12 percent in total day viewers, -28 percent in the prime time demo, and -25 percent in the total day demo.  MSNBC was the second-most-watched basic cable network for the week.  CNN had a very solid week, finishing No. 7 among all basic cable networks in total prime time viewers (+10 percent year-over-year), and No. 3 among all basic cable networks in total day viewers (+3 percent year-over-year). Similar to its competition, CNN posted year-over-year losses in the A25-54 demo of -2 percent in prime time, and -12 percent in total day, reports TVNewser.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 9.8 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” was second with 8.9 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 6.9 million.

Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Jan. 14-20:

1. AFC Championship: New England vs. Kansas City, CBS, 53.92 million.
2. “AFC Championship Post Game,” CBS, 24.34 million.
3. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 13.33 million.
4. “NCIS,” CBS, 12.22 million.
5. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 11.46 million.
6. “AGT Champions,” NBC, 9.99 million.
7. “FBI,” CBS, 9.34 million.
8. “Magnum, P.I.,” CBS, 8.76 million.
9. “Chicago Med,” NBC, 8.51 million.
10. “Mom,” CBS, 8.46 million.

11. “Chicago Fire,” CBS, 8.03 million.
12. “This is Us,” NBC, 7.75 million.
13. “Hawaii Five-0,” CBS, 7.62 million.
14. “NCIS: New Orleans,” CBS, 7.29 million.
15. “Chicago PD,” NBC, 7.26 million.
16. “Bull,” CBS, 7.09 million.
17. “Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC, 7.08 million.
18. “The Masked Singer,” Fox, 6.95 million.
19. “MacGyver,” CBS, 6.9 million.
20. “The Neighborhood,” CBS, 6.83 million.

Basic cable ranker 6+: Week of... by Scribd

In daytime, Dr. Phil pulled away from its talk show rivals, skyrocketing 26% to a 2.9 and finishing first in the genre for the 123rd straight week, according to TVNewsCheck.

Live with Kelly and Ryan and Ellen DeGeneres tied for second place at a 2.2, with the former dipping 4%, while the latter gained 5%.

The only other talker in the top nine moving up was Steve Harvey’s Steve, which shot up 20% in the key demo and improved 9% in households to a 1.2 despite being in repeats for part of the week.

GAME SHOWS

1. Wheel of Fortune (CTD) 6.7* +12%
2. Jeopardy (CTD) 6.6* +14%
3. Family Feud (Debmar-Mercury/FMNA) 6.5 +8%
4. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (Disney-ABC) 1.6 NC
5. Funny You Should Ask (Entertainment Studios) 0.5 NC

OFF-NET SITCOMS

1. Big Bang Theory (WBDTD) 4.8 +9%
2. Last Man Standing (20th Television) 2.3 +15%
3. Modern Family (20th Television) 2.1 +5%
4. The Goldbergs (Sony) 1.6 +7%
5. Family Guy (20th Television) 1.4 +17%