TV Ratings: AGT Delivers For NBC

Summer’s most popular entertainment series, NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” had a little competition last week, reports The Associated Press citing Nielsen data.

ABC’s “The Bachelorette” delivered its best ratings for the franchise in two years along with a surprise finale last week, when Hannah Brown revealed she had called off the engagement to her selection. The show drew 7.5 million, only a half million less than “America’s Got Talent.”

The twin entertainment shows last Tuesday may have caused a dent in CNN’s ratings for the first of two nights of its presidential debate that night. The next night, CNN’s debate audience was 2 million more. Democratic front-runner Joe Biden debated on Wednesday.

NBC won the week in prime time with an average of 3.7 million. ABC had 3.6 million, CBS had 2.7 million, Fox had 1.7 million, ION Television had 1.4 million, Telemundo had 1.06 million, Univision had 1.05 million and the CW had 650,000.

CNN was the week’s most popular cable networks, averaging 3.17 million viewers.

⏩Cable TV Prime Time (Total Viewers):

1. CNN (3,260,000)
2. Fox News (2,565,000)
3. MSNBC (1,273,000)
4. Discovery (1,224,000)
5. HGTV (1,219,000)
6. TBS (1,079,000)
7. A&E (1,032,000)
8. TLC (1,020,000)
9. Hallmark (980,000)
10. USA (979,000)

CNN was also the top cable news network among adults 25-54, and finished the week as the second-most-watched basic cable network in total day.

Which network was No. 1 for the week in total day? That would be Fox News, according to TVNewser.

FNC ran its streak to 30 consecutive weeks at No. 1 in the 6 a.m. – 6 a.m. daypart, with a 1.45 million viewer average. No network came close to averaging a million viewers in that daypart. Fox News also averaged 2.57 million viewers in prime time this past week, second only to CNN. Fox News’ streak as basic cable’s most-watched network in prime time ends at 11 weeks.

MSNBC was the third-most-watched basic cable network last night, both in total day and the prime time dayparts.

⏩ Basic cable ranker: Week of... on Scribd

ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 8.1 million viewers. The “NBC Nightly News” had 6.8 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 4.9 million.

⏩ Broadcast Prime-time viewership numbers:

1. “Presidential Debate” (Wednesday), CNN, 10.77 million.
2. “Presidential Debate Analysis” (Wednesday), CNN, 9.21 million.
3. “Presidential Debate” (Tuesday), CNN, 8.69 million.
4. “Presidential Debate Intro,” (Wednesday), CNN, 8.21 million.
5. “Presidential Debate Analysis” (Tuesday), CNN, 8.11 million.
6. “America’s Got Talent,” NBC, 7.98 million.
7. “The Bachelorette” (Tuesday), ABC, 7.52 million.
8. “The Bachelorette” (Monday), ABC, 7.25 million.
9. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 6.49 million.
10. “Presidential Debate Intro” (Tuesday), CNN, 6.31 million.

11. NFL Exhibition Football: Denver at Atlanta, NBC, 5.35 million.
12. “NFL Exhibition Intro,” NBC, 5.05 million.
13. “CMA Fest,” ABC, 4.68 million.
14. “American Ninja Warrior,” NBC, 4.66 million.
15. Movie: “Descendants 3,” Disney, 4.59 million.
16. “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” ABC, 4.38 million.
17. “Big Brother” (Sunday), CBS, 4.13 million.
18. “Hannity” (Thursday), Fox News, 4.07 million.
19. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Thursday), Fox News, 3.95 million.
20. “Big Brother” (Wednesday), CBS, 3.84 million.