TV Ratings: NBC's AGT Wins The Week

Former President Donald Trump reached less than a million measurable television viewers over the weekend in his return to the public stage at a North Carolina political event, according to The Associated Press citing Nielsen data.

Newsmax averaged just under 700,000 viewers between 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Saturday when Trump spoke, the Nielsen company said. His speech was also carried live on One America News Network and C-SPAN, but their audience is not measured by Nielsen.

Fox News Channel did not carry the speech by the former president beloved by many of its viewers. The network averaged more than 1.5 million viewers for its typical Saturday night fare of Jesse Watters and Jeanine Pirro.

Later on Saturday, Fox’s debut hour with conservative media personality Dan Bongino reached 1.8 million people, making it the most-watched cable news show of the weekend.

The L-A times reports the highest ratings scripted program between May 31 and Sunday was the fourth-season finale of the action drama “Station 19,” fifth for the week, averaging 4.903 million viewers. The 17th season finale of the medical drama “Grey’s Anatomy” that followed on ABC finished second among scripted programs and seventh overall, averaging 4.759 million.

The biggest audience for a sporting event and cable’s rating winner was TNT’s coverage of the sixth and final game of the NBA first-round playoff series between the Lakers and Phoenix Suns that averaged 4.531 million viewers, ninth for the week.

The broadcast networks made a swift turn into summer, with NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” topping the ratings upon its return. CBS led for the week, averaging 3.3 million viewers in prime time. ABC had 3.17 million, NBC had 3.16 million, Fox had 1.7 million, Univision had 1.5 million, Ion Television had 970,000 and Telemundo had 880,000.

➤Top 20 Prime-Time TV Shows (Total Viewers):

1. “America’s Got Talent,” NBC, 7.37 million.

2. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 7.06 million.

3. “Celebrity Family Feud,” ABC, 5.74 million.

4. “Kennedy Center Honors,” CBS, 5.32 million.

5. “Station 19,” ABC, 4.9 million.

6. “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” ABC, 4.78 million.

7. “Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC, 4.76 million.

8. “NCIS,” CBS, 4.72 million.

9. NBA Playoffs: Phoenix at L.A. Lakers (Thursday), TNT, 4.53 million.

10. “FBI,” CBS, 4.27 million.

11. “Law & Order: SVU,” NBC, 4.23 million.

12. “The Chase,” ABC, 4.07 million.

13. “Law & Order: Organized Crime,” NBC, 4.02 million.

14. “United States of Al,” CBS, 3.951 million.

15. “New Amsterdam,” NBC, 3.947 million.

16. Soccer: EE UU vs Mexico, Univision, 3.923 million.

17. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 3.922 million.

18. “FBI: Most Wanted,” CBS, 3.89 million.

19. “The $100,000 Pyramid,” ABC, 3.67 million.

20. NBA Playoffs: L.A. Clippers at Dallas (Friday), ESPN, 3.61 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” led the evening news ratings race, averaging 7.3 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 6.3 million, and the “CBS Evening News” had 4.7 million.

TNT led the cable news networks, averaging 2.36 million viewers in prime time last week. Fox News Channel had 1.94 million, HGTV had 1.25 million, MSNBC had 1.23 million and TBS had 938,000.

➤CableTV Ranker (Total Viewers:

➤CableTV Ranker (Viewers 25-54):

TV Newser reports Tucker Carlson Tonight drew the largest audience on cable news last week, averaging 2.7 million total viewers to go with 442,000 adults 25-54. TCT drew 2.8 million total viewers and 454,000 adults 25-54 the previous week.

The network also debuted two weekend programs this past week, Unfiltered with Dan Bongino (Saturdays at 10 p.m. ET) and Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy (Sundays at 7 p.m.). Unfiltered ended up being the top-rated cable news program of the weekend, while Sunday Night in America was No. 1 in the 7 p.m. time slot.