TV Ratings: 'Hamilton' Audience Size 'A Mystery'

Disney+’s streaming of “Hamilton” was surely the biggest event on television screens over the holiday weekend. Just how big, however, remains a mystery, The Associated Press reports.

Disney knows, but it’s not telling. Data is coming in to the Nielsen company, too, but won’t be released until Disney gives the go-ahead. “Hamilton” is the poster boy for how the science of measurement is not keeping up with how entertainment content is being consumed.

Disney+, which announced in May that it had signed up 54.5 million paid subscribers worldwide, will not release information on how many people subscribed in time to get “Hamilton” or how many watched until its next quarterly earnings report, a spokeswoman said.

Nielsen said it is repeating what it did in the early days of cable television by letting networks and their corporate owners dictate how much information about how many people are watching is released. Nascent networks figured it was a buzzkill if people learned that the audiences for heavily-promoted shows were small.

The same is true for the streaming services. They’re also nervous about how viewing patterns will be depicted — a new streamed show will often get a big audience when it is first released, but quickly drop off.

The combination of “America’s Got Talent,” “Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular” and auto racing gave NBC its first weekly prime-time ratings victory since December, The LA Times reports.

“America’s Got Talent” was the most-watched prime-time program for the sixth time in the six full weeks of television’s summer season, averaging 8.441 million viewers, its least of the season.

The week’s only other prime-time program to average more than 6 million viewers was the CBS News magazine “60 Minutes,” which averaged 6.09 million viewers. All three segments were previously broadcast and updated for Sunday’s broadcast.

“Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular” was fifth for the week, averaging 4.761 million viewers. Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 was eighth for the week, averaging 4.343 million viewers.

NBC was the most popular network in prime time last week, averaging 3.8 million viewers. CBS had 3.3 million, ABC had 2.3 million, Univision had 1.4 million, Fox had 1.3 million, ION Television had 1 million and Telemundo had 820,000.

⏩ 20 most popular prime time programs (Total Viewers):

1. “America’s Got Talent,” NBC, 8.44 million.
2. “60 Minutes” (Sunday, 7 p.m.), CBS, 6.09 million.
3. “The Ingraham Angle” (Friday), Fox News, 5.7 million
4. “NCIS,” CBS, 5.21 million.
5. “Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks,” NBC, 4.76 million.
6. “FBI,” CBS, 4.57 million.
7. “Hannity” (Friday), Fox News, 4.41 million.
8. “NASCAR Cup Series,” NBC, 4.34 million.
9. “Hannity” (Wednesday), Fox News, 4.33 million.
10. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Monday), Fox News, 4.29 million.

11. “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” ABC, 4.27 million.
12. “60 Minutes” (Sunday, 8 p.m.), CBS, 4.262 million.
13. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 4.26 million.
14. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Thursday), Fox News, 4.22 million.
15. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Tuesday), Fox News, 4.161 million.
16. “Hannity” (Monday), Fox News, 4.156 million.
17. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Wednesday), Fox News, 4.13 million.
18. “Hannity” (Tuesday), Fox News, 4.08 million.
19. “The Wall,” NBC, 4.06 million.
20. “World of Dance,” NBC, 4 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” led the evening newscasts with an average of 8.9 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 7.5 million and the “CBS Evening News” 5.3 million.

Fox News Channel led the cable networks, with an average of 3.35 million viewers. MSNBC had 1.93 million, CNN had 1.56 million, HGTV had 1.26 million and TLC had 1.14 million.

CableTV Top Channels (Total Viewers)

CableTV Top Channels (Persons 25-54)