TV Ratings: Election Coverage And Football Win The Week

The news networks CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC collectively averaged just under 10 million viewers in prime time last week, or 72 percent more than the same week in 2019, reports The Associated Press citing Nielsen company data.

At a time most networks are grateful not to lose too many viewers year-to-year, Fox News’ average of 4.42 million last week was up 63 percent, MSNBC’s 2.75 million was up 38 percent and CNN’s 2.59 million represented an eye-popping 172 percent increase.

The vice presidential debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris dominated the news last week, with the most people watching it on Fox News.

CBS won the week in prime time among the broadcast networks, averaging 5.8 million viewers. ABC had 5.7 million, NBC had 4.9 million, Fox had 4.3 million, Univision had 1.14 million, Telemundo had 1.06 million and Ion Television had 1.04 million.

After the cable news trio, TBS averaged 2.36 million and ESPN had 1.93 million.

➤Top 20 Prime-Time Show (Total Viewers):

1. NFL Football: Tampa Bay at Chicago, Fox, 15.12 million.

2. NFL Football: Minnesota at Seattle, NBC, 15.08 million.

3. NFL Football: New England at Kansas City, CBS, 14.7 million.

4. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 12.04 million.

5. “Vice Presidential Debate,” Fox News, 11.94 million.

6. “Vice Presidential Debate,” ABC, 9.85 million.

7. “NFL Pregame,” NBC, 9.5 million.

8. “Vice Presidential Debate Analysis,” Fox News, 9.19 million.

9. NFL Football: Atlanta at Green Bay, ESPN, 9.04 million.

10. NBA Finals: Miami vs. L.A. Lakers (Friday), ABC, 8.89 million.

11. “NFL Pregame,” Fox, 8.64 million.

12. “Vice Presidential Debate Preview,” Fox News, 8.42 million.

13. NBA Finals: L.A. Lakers vs. Miami (Sunday), ABC, 8.29 million.

14. “Vice Presidential Debate,” CNN, 7.75 million.

15. NBA Finals: L.A. Lakers vs. Miami (Tuesday), ABC, 7.62 million.

16. “Football Night in America,” NBC, 7.39 million.

17. “Vice Presidential Debate Analysis,” ABC, 7.01 million.

18. “Vice Presidential Debate,” MSNBC, 6.94 million.

19. “Biden Town Hall,” NBC, 6.7 million.

20. “Vice Presidential Debate Analysis,” MSNBC, 6.65 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” won the evening news ratings race, averaging 8.2 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 7.3 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.3 million.

➤Syndication:

According to TV Newscheck: Live with Kelly and Ryan uncorked a 12% increase in a tough week for most of syndication to a 1.9 live-plus-same-day national Nielsen rating and raced to the top of the talkers in the session ending Oct. 4. This marks the third time in four weeks that Live has finished first in the hotly contested genre.

Dr. Phil was right behind at a 1.8, although it eased 5%. The closely watched Ellen DeGeneres Show was unable to improve on its prior week’s 1.2, remaining 29% below last year at this time.

Among other major movers in the category, The Kelly Clarkson Show was crippled by a ton of baseball playoff preemptions, losing its primary runs in numerous markets and did well to give back only 10% to a 0.9. That tied Wendy Williams, which rose 13% in week 2 of its new season.

Judge Judy was comfortably in front of everything in syndication and earned Nielsen’s No. 1 designation in the household ratings for the sixth time in seven weeks, despite dipping 7% to a 5.4.