TV Ratings: Football Powers Broadcast Prime Time

Thanks to football, Fox won a rare title as champ of the broadcast week among networks.

Fox’s Thursday night NFL airing of the Dallas Cowboys and Chicago Bears was the week’s top show of any kind with 18.23 million viewers, and its broadcast of the Big 10 title game between Ohio State and Wisconsin on Saturday finished fourth for the week with 13.55 million viewers, The Associated Press reports citing Nielsen company data.

They were joined by the network’s drama “911” in 15th and its surreal singing competition “The Masked Singer” in 17th to help give Fox a prime-time average of 7.85 million viewers compared 6.59 million for second-place CBS.

CBS’s perennial ratings generator “60 Minutes” was the week’s top non-football show, in fifth place with more than 13 million viewers, and the network’s “Young Sheldon” was the top scripted show in ninth with 8.39 million.

After Fox’s 7.85 million average viewers and CBS’s 6.59, NBC averaged 5.82 million viewers in prime time and ABC had 4.4. Univision was next up among broadcast networks with 1.26 million viewers, followed by ION television with 1.2 million, Next comes Telemundo had 1.14 million and the CW with 840,000.

⏩ Broadcast Prime Time Top 20 shows Total Viewers:

1. NFL Football: Dallas at Chicago, Fox, 18.23 million.
2. NFL Football: Seattle at L.A. Rams, NBC, 17.88 million.
3. NFL Football: Minnesota at Seattle: ESPN, 14.56 million.
4. Big 10 Football Championship Game, Ohio State at Wisconsin, Fox, 13.55 million.
5. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 13.03 million.
6. NFL Pregame Show, NBC: 12.87 million.
7. NFL Pregame Show, Fox: 10.83 million.
8. “Football Night in America, Pt. 3,” NBC, 9.83 million.
9. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 8.39 million.
10. “The Voice,” NBC, 8.03 million.

11. Big 10 Football Championship Pregame, Fox, 13.55 million.
12. “Blue Bloods” CBS, 7.33 million.
13. “NCIS,” CBS, 7.18 million.
14. “Christmas at Rockefeller Center,” NBC, 6.88 million.
15. “Survivor,” CBS, 6.87 million.
16. “911,” Fox, 6.82 million.
17. “God Friended Me” CBS, 6.8 million.
18. “The Masked Singer,” Fox, .6.6 million
19. “Hawaii Five-0,” CBS, 6.55 million.
20. “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC, 6.44 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 9 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” was second with 8.24 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.85 million viewers.

Fox News Channel was the week’s most popular cable network, averaging 2.86 million viewers in prime time. ESPN was second with 2.71 million. Hallmark had 1.83 million, MSNBC had 1.81 million and A&E had 1 million.

Hannity and Tucker Carlson Tonight were the top 2 cable news shows of the week, followed by The Ingraham Angle.

⏩ Basic Cable Top 10 – Prime Time Total Viewers:

1. Fox News (2,859,000)
2. ESPN (2,706,000)
3. Hallmark Channel (1,830,000)
4. MSNBC (1,808,000)
5. A&E (1,076,000)
6. TBS (1,058,000)
7. HGTV (981,000)
8. History (936,000)
9. Discovery (922,000)
10. Freeform (903,000)
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⏩ Basic Cable Ranker Total Viewers