TV Ratings: Super Bowl and Olympics Score Gold For NBC

The Super Bowl rebounded to draw an estimated 101.1 million television viewers who saw the Los Angeles Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals on a late-game drive, proving the dominance of football as an audience magnet.

The audience on NBC and Telemundo was a 6% increase over the 95.2 million TV viewers who saw the Tampa Bay Bucs crowned as champions in 2021, the Nielsen company said on Tuesday.

The Associated Press reports the ratings improvement for what is traditionally the most-watched event of the year was no surprise, given the run of terrific playoff games leading up to it. Viewership for the NFL’s divisional round was up 20% over last year, and the conference championships were up 10%, Nielsen said.

NBC said another 11.2 million people streamed this year’s game, putting the total audience at 112.3 million people. The audience for television and streaming combined is up 12.6% over last year.

📺Nielsen company’s list of the 20 most-watched prime time programs last week (Total Viewers):

1. Super Bowl: L.A. Rams vs. Cincinnati, NBC, 99.18 million.

2. “Super Bowl Post Game,” NBC, 54.07 million.

3. Winter Olympics (Sunday), NBC, 21.28 million.

4. Winter Olympics (Thursday), NBC, 11.09 million.

5. Winter Olympics (Wednesday), NBC, 9.81 million.

6. Winter Olympics (Friday), NBC, 8.57 million.

7. Winter Olympics (Monday), NBC, 8.47 million.

8. Winter Olympics (Tuesday), NBC, 8.35 million.

9. Winter Olympics (Saturday), NBC, 8.24 million.

10. “911: Lone Star,” Fox, 5.18 million.

11. “Jeopardy! College Championship” (Friday), ABC, 4.6 million.

12. “Super Bowl’s Great Commercials,” CBS, 4.595 million.

13. “Jeopardy! College Championship” (Wednesday), ABC, 4.57 million.

14. “Jeopardy! College Championship” (Thursday), ABC, 4.52 million.

15. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 4.29 million.

16. “Jeopardy! College Championship” (Tuesday), ABC, 4.28 million.

17. “The Neighborhood,” CBS, 4.05 million.

18. “FBI,” CBS, 3.71 million.

19. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Thursday) Fox News, 3.67 million.

20. NBA Basketball: L.A. Lakers at Golden State, ABC, 3.61 million.

📺EVENING NEWS

ABC World News Tonight with David Muir finished the week of Feb. 7, 2022 as the No. 1 evening newscast, both in total viewers (averaging 8.47 million) and among adults 25-54 (averaging 1.545 million).

According to TV Newser, America’s top evening newscast lost -8% in total viewers and -11% in adults 25-54 from the prior week (Jan. 31). Compared with the same week in 2021 (Feb. 8), the trend was worse, with World News Tonight losing -11% in average total audience and -18% among adults 25-54.

It’s worth remembering that the week of Feb. 8, 2021 featured the impeachment of former President Trump, when interest in TV news was especially high.

Nevertheless, ABC’s evening newscast has now defeated its competition from NBC and CBS 167 of the past 168 weeks in average total viewers—and 96 of the last 98 weeks among adults 25-54.

📺LATE NIGHT

📺CABLE 

Fox News Channel and USA split the basic cable Nielsen ratings race for the second consecutive week, with FNC averaging the largest total audience in primetime and total day, and USA hauling in the most adults 25-54 in primetime and total day, reports TV Newser.

MSNBC earned the No. 3 ranking on basic cable in total day and primetime total viewers for the second consecutive week. The network averaged 1.025 million total viewers in primetime (-18% from the prior week) and 621,000 viewers in total day (-10% from the prior week). MSNBC averaged 114,000 adults 25-54 in primetime (-17% week-to-week) and 67,000 adults 25-54 in total day (-15% week to week). The network fell to No. 29 among the primetime demo and No. 30 among the total day demo during the week of Feb. 7.

It’s obvious that the network is hurt by Rachel Maddow‘s hiatus from primetime. The ratings trend bears that out.

Graphics courtesy of RoadMN (w/permission)

On the programming front, Tucker Carlson Tonight edged The Five for the No. 1 spot (3.47 million vs. 3.465 million). Jesse Watters Primetime (2.885 million), Hannity (2.85 million), Special Report with Bret Baier (2.5 million) rounded out the top five. 

The Rachel Maddow Show (guest-hosted by Ali Velshi) dropped to No. 11 in total viewers (1.55 million).