TV Ratings: Ryan Seacrest...The King Of New Year's Eve TV

Ryan Seacrest

Ryan Seacrest, inheritor of ABC’s 50-year-old “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” from Dick Clark, reached 19.6 million viewers between 11:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. last weekend, reports the Associated Press citing Nielsen data. During the 15-minute interval where the ball dropped in New York’s Times Square, his audience jumped to 24.2 million people.

It was the show’s biggest audience in four years, Nielsen said.

A drunken Cohen, who was co-hosting CNN’s New Year’s Eve special also from Times Square, attracted attention for referring to “Ryan Seacrest’s group of losers.” He said that people watching ABC had “seen nothing.”

Sobered up two days later, Cohen said on his SiriusXM show said that he really liked Seacrest. “He’s a great guy, and I really regret saying that. I was just stupid and drunk and feeling it,” he said.

CNN’s shot-filled celebration with Cohen and Anderson Cooper reached 3.3 million viewers between 11 p.m. and 12:30 a.m., outdoing Fox News Channel’s Nashville-based show, which had 2.1 million people watching.

NBC, which tried a new show with Miley Cyrus and Pete Davidson, reached 6.3 million during the same time as Seacrest’s fest, Nielsen said. CBS’ country-oriented show had 5.2 million viewers.

Among broadcast networks last week, NBC had the highest prime-time average of 4.4 million viewers. CBS had 3.9 million, Fox had 3 million, ABC had 2.8 million, Univision had 1.4 million, Ion Television had 1 million and Telemundo had 890,000.

📺Top 20 Prime Time Shows (Total Viewers):

1. NFL Football: Minnesota at Green Bay, NBC, 18.55 million.

2. College Football Playoff: Georgia vs. Michigan, ESPN, 16.51 million.

3. Rose Bowl: Ohio State vs. Utah, ESPN, 15.99 million.

4. “College Football Studio” (Friday, 7:28 p.m.), ESPN, 15.97 million.

5. “NFL Pregame Show,” NBC, 14.68 million.

6. “The OT,” Fox, 14.25 million.

7. “College Football Studio” (Friday, 7:11 p.m.), ESPN, 13.4 million.

8. NFL Football: Miami at New Orleans, ESPN, 12.31 million.

9. “Football Night in America, Part 3,” NBC, 11.17 million.

10. Sugar Bowl: Baylor vs. Mississippi, ESPN, 9.51 million.

11. “Yellowstone,” Paramount, 9.34 million.

12. “Primetime New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,” ABC, 8.79 million.

13. Peach Bowl: Pittsburgh vs. Michigan St., ESPN, 7.65 million.

14. “College Football Studio” (Friday 11 p.m.), ESPN, 7.15 million.

15. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 7.09 million.

16. “The Equalizer,” CBS, 6.53 million.

17. “Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party,” NBC, 5.82 million.

18. “Football Night in America, Part 2,” NBC, 5.263 million.

19. “The Price is Right 50th Anniversary,” CBS, 5.258 million.

20. “NCIS: Los Angeles,” CBS, 5.17 million.

ABC World News Tonight with David Muir was the No. 1 evening newscast during the week between Christmas and New Year’s, both in total viewers (8.75 million) and among adults 25-54 (1.60 million) for the week of Dec. 27, 2021, reports TV Newser.

Guest-anchored by Whit Johnson last week, World News Tonight now defeated both its NBC and CBS competition 161 of the past 162 weeks in average total viewers—and 90 of the last 92 weeks among adults 25-54.

Its schedule stuffed with college football bowl games, ESPN had the highest prime-time average of any network last week, at 8.09 million. Fox News Channel was the second-ranked cable network at 1.72 million, Paramount had 1.59 million, Hallmark had 1.3 million and HGTV had 1.07 million.

Graphics Courtesy of RoadMN

On the programming front, Fox News’ The Five remained the most-watched cable news show of the week, averaging 2.95 million total viewers and 395,000 adults 25-54 in the 5 p.m. hour. The Five has finished No. 1 on cable news in total viewers four consecutive weeks, a notable achievement for a program airing outside of primetime, according to TV Newser.

Tucker Carlson Tonight ranked No. 2 last week, both in total viewers (2.47 million) and among adults 25-54 (332,000). TCT featured guest hosts throughout the week. Special Report with Bret Baier was No. 3 on cable news during the week between Christmas and New Year’s, averaging with 2.1 million total viewers and 301,000 A25-54. Hannity, which featured fill-in hosts throughout the week, finished fourth. The network’s 9 p.m. offering averaged just under 2.1 million viewers and 286,000 in the 25-54 demo.