TV Ratings: The New Viewing Season Is Underway

With the 52-week season that was 2021-22 entirely in the books as of Sept. 18, CBS remains the most watched network, and NBC held onto its lead among adults 18-49. That’s where the two were at the end of the traditional, September-to-May season as well, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

ABC nudged ahead of Fox in the total-viewer race over the longer period, but the latter remained second in the 18-49 demographic that advertisers covet.

NBC averaged a 0.9 rating in the 18-49 demo (down from 1.2 at the end of May), claiming its second straight 52-week crown and eighth in the past nine years. The network had both the Super Bowl and Winter Olympics as major drivers of that win, along with the final season of This Is Us (the top-rated entertainment series), its other NFL games and the continually solid performance of its Dick Wolf-produced Chicago dramas.

Fox averaged a 0.8 (down from 1.1) to hold onto second place. ABC (even vs. May) and CBS (down 0.1) tied for third at 0.7.

“NBC remains best in class in broadcast as well as being a vital pillar of our diversified portfolio,” said Frances Berwick, chairman entertainment networks at NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, of the demo victory. “As we begin our new season and look toward the future, NBC continues to lead the pack across programming genres in the ever-expanding television landscape.”

CBS averaged 5.31 million viewers over the 52-week timeframe, beating out NBC (5.19 million) by about the same margin as in the shorter season (6.35 million to 6.25 million). CBS series claimed seven of the top 10 non-sports shows during the season — with NCIS‘ 10.9 million viewers over seven days leading the way — and got solid tune-in from Big Brother over the summer.

ABC had a somewhat better summer than Fox in total viewers — aided by the NBA Finals and a couple of big college football and NFL telecasts in early September — to finish third with 3.93 million viewers, while Fox averaged 3.71 million. In May, Fox was third at 4.68 million viewers and ABC fourth at 4.19 million.

📺TOP 20 PRIME-TIME SHOWS FOR WEEK SEPT 12-18 (TOTAL VIEWERS)

1. NFL Football: Chicago at Green Bay, NBC, 19.55 million.

2. “NFL Pregame” (Sunday), NBC, 14.55 million.

3. “NFL Postgame” (Sunday), Fox, 10.77 million.

4. NFL Football: Denver at Seattle, ABC, 10.3 million.

5. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 10.2 million.

6. “Football Night in America,” NBC, 8.36 million.

7. NFL Football: Denver at Seattle, ESPN, 8 million.

8. “America’s Got Talent” (Tuesday), NBC, 7.03 million.

9. “America’s Got Talent” (Wednesday), NBC, 6.82 million.

10. “NFL Pregame” (Monday), ABC, 6.31 million.

11. “Emmy Awards,” NBC, 5.92 million.

12. “Big Brother” (Sunday), CBS, 4.47 million.

13. “Password” (Wednesday), NBC, 4.43 million.

14. “NFL Pregame (Monday), ESPN, 4.33 million.

15. “Password” (Tuesday), NBC, 3.88 million.

16. “FBI,” CBS, 3.86 million.

17. “Big Brother” (Wednesday), CBS, 3.85 million.

18. “Celebrity Family Feud,” ABC, 3.83 million.

19. “The Bachelorette,” ABC, 3.55 million.

20. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 3.51 million.

📺BROADCAST NETWORK NEWS  

 ABC World News Tonight with David Muir is officially the No. 1 evening newscast for the 2021-22 TV season, both in average total viewers (8.145 million) and among adults 25-54 (1.47 million). According to TV Newser, that’s now six consecutive seasons as the most-watched evening newscast. NBC Nightly News had won the previous 20 seasons.

Not only did World News Tonight continue to grab the largest total audience, but it spent all 52 weeks this broadcast season as the top-rated newscast in Adults 25-54; including both weeks during an NBC Olympics for the first time in more than 30 years.

In addition, the ABC evening newscast stood as the most-watched program on all of Nielsen-rated U.S. TV for 17 of the 52 weeks of the season, spending more weeks at No. 1 than any other program in 2021-’22.

Speaking of NBC, Nightly News With Lester Holt averaged 6.87 million viewers and 1.2 million adults 25-54 in the 2021-’22 season. Compared to 2020-’21, that’s -6% in total viewers, but -15% among adults 25-54. That’s now four consecutive seasons that NBC Nightly News has finished No. 2 both in total viewers and A25-54.

CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell averaged 4.94 million total viewers and 833,000 adults 25-54 in the 2021-’22 season. That’s -9% in average total viewers and -15% in adults 25-54 from what the newscast averaged in 2020-’21.

Evening news ratings trended in the wrong direction in 2021-’22 and that’s problematic. However, the three main network newscasts are still attracting a combined 20 million viewers, not to mention those who are streaming the evening news who aren’t counted by Nielsen. That’s a lot of Americans who continue to be interested in the genre on a nightly basis.

📺LATE NIGHT TV

                             Graphics Courtesy of RoadMN

📺CABLE TV

Fox News has now achieved 37 consecutive weeks as the most-watched network on all of basic cable (not just cable news) in the 24-hour daypart—and 83 consecutive weeks as the most-watched cable news network with its Nielsen ratings performance during the week of Sept. 12, 2022.

According to TV Newser citing live plus same day data from Nielsen in total day (6 a.m.-6 a.m. ET), Fox News averaged 1.42 million total day viewers and 195,000 adults 25-54. The 1.42 million is +2% from what the network averaged during the Labor Day holiday week beginning on Sept. 5, and the 195,000 in A25-54 is -4% from that same week. 

Fox News remained No. 2 in total primetime cable viewers behind ESPN, which continues to grab large audiences with its live college football and now Monday Night Football coverage. The network saw week-to-week growth in the daypart, averaging 2.21 million total viewers (+10%) and 281,000 adults 25-54 (+4%). Fox News drew the third-most adults 25-54 in primetime cable behind ESPN (1.065 million) and USA (294,000).

MSNBC also had a positive week on the ratings front. The NBC News politics-focused outlet finished the week of Sept. 12 as the third-most-watched network on basic cable, averaging 791,000 in total day and 1.26 million total viewers in primetime. The 1.26 million viewer average in prime is +23% from the prior week, while the 791,000 is +10% versus what the network averaged in total day the prior week.  MSNBC averaged 112,000 adults 25-54 in primetime, ranking No. 26 on basic cable—and +12% from the prior week. The network averaged 81,000 adults 25-54 in total day, which is +5% with the prior week, placing it at No. 18 on all of basic cable.

CNN averaged 597,000 total viewers and 108,000 adults 25-54 in total day during the week of Sept. 12. That’s -1% in total viewers and -11% in adults 25-54, respectively, from the week prior. When it comes to total viewers in total day, CNN ranks No. 4 on all of basic cable, and when it comes to Adults 25-54 in total day, CNN ranks No. 9.  In primetime, CNN averaged 705,000 total viewers (No. 8 on basic cable) and 136,000 adults 25-54 (No. 17 on basic cable) this past week. That’s +1% in total viewers and flat in A25-54 relative to the prior week.

Graphics Courtesy of RoadMN

In terms of individual programming, The Five is the most-watched cable news show for the fourth consecutive week. The news talk panel program averaged 3.27 million total viewers during the week of Sept. 12, up from the prior week. Tucker Carlson Tonight is second place in total viewers (3.18 million at 8 p.m.), Jesse Watters Primetime (2.84 million at 7 p.m.), Hannity (2.61 million at 9 p.m.) and Special Report with Bret Baier (2.4 million viewers at 6 p.m.) round out the top five.

Fox News also posted 81 of the 100 most-watched cable news telecasts for the week.

📺NCAAF TV

Penn State-Auburn was comfortably the highest rated and most-watched college football game of week three, meaning that ABC, FOX and CBS have each taken top honors in the first three weeks of the season.

📺STREAMING