TV Ratings: The NFL And Jeopardy Were Big Hits

The “Jeopardy!” GOAT tournament matching the game show’s three most accomplished and well-known players has proven to be a big hit for ABC.

The three matches between Ken Jennings, James Holzhauer and Brad Rutter were each seen by roughly 15 million viewers last week, reports The Associated Press citing Nielsen data.

And interest increased as the tournament continued: Thursday’s third match reached 15.5 million viewers on the night it aired, the biggest audience yet. To put that in perspective, Fox averaged 14 million viewers last fall for baseball’s World Series.

The emergence of Holzhauer last year, when he set several records for single-day earnings, gave “Jeopardy!′ three well-known players with distinctive claims to fame: Rutter has earned more money than any player in the game’s modern-day history and Jennings set the record for longest run as champion.

Nostalgia for “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek, who’s suffering from pancreatic cancer, has also made it attractive to viewers.

CBS led the broadcast networks, averaging 9.5 million viewers in prime-time last week, and Fox had 9.2 million as both networks were helped considerably by NFL playoff games. ABC averaged 5.4 million viewers, NBC had 4.2 million, Univision had 1.5 million, ION Television had 1.3 million, Telemundo had 840,000 and the CW had 690,000.

⏩ Broadcast Prime-Time Top 20 Shows For the week of Jan. 6-12 (Total Viewers):

1. NFL Playoffs: Seattle at Green Bay, Fox, 37.24 million.
2. “NFL Post-Game Show (9:49 p.m. to 9:57 p.m.), Fox, 29.57 million.
3. NFL Playoffs: Tennessee at Baltimore, CBS, 29.41 million.
4. “NFL Post-Game Show (9:57 p.m. to 10:09 p.m.), Fox, 18.4 million.
5. “Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time” (Match 3), ABC, 15.55 million.
6. “Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time” (Match 2), ABC, 14.87 million.
7. “Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time” (Match 1), ABC, 14.42 million.
8. “NCIS,” CBS, 10.4 million.
9. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 10.12 million.
10. “FBI,” CBS, 9.33 million.

11. “America’s Got Talent Champions,” NBC, 8.07 million.
12. “Chicago Fire,” NBC, 7.95 million.
13. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 7.91 million.
14. “Hawaii Five-0,” CBS, 7.68 million.
15. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 7.57 million.
16. “Chicago Med,” NBC, 7.46 million.
17. “FBI: Most Wanted,” CBS, 7.2 million.
18. “Magnum P.I.,” CBS, 7.04 million.
19. “Chicago PD,” NBC, 7.02 million.
20. “The Neighborhood,” CBS, 6.86 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” led the network evening newscasts with an average of 9.7 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 8.5 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 6.1 million.

The big 3 CableTV newsers finished among basic cable’s top 10 networks last week. Fox News attracted especially large audiences, capitalizing on the assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, who was killed by a U.S. drone strike in Iraq early Friday, Jan. 3.

⏩ Basic Cable Top 10 Prime-Time (Total Viewers)

1. Fox News (3,267,000)
2. MSNBC (1,763,000)
3. TLC (1,187,000)
4. Hallmark Channel (1,121,000)
5. A&E (1,119,000)
6. CNN (1,105,000)
7. HGTV (1,069,000)
8. TBS (956,000)
9. History (905,000)
10. ESPN (873,000)

⏩ Basic cable ranker...