NFL is king of the Television jungle
Make no mistake: Reality TV, games shows, dramas, news magazines and any other form of television programming simply can?t stand up to the behemoth in viewership, the NFL. The National Football League just completed another dominant regular season in The Nielsen Co. derby, as 31 of the 32 most-watched programs since Labor Day were telecasts of NFL games.
The only interloper was the Macy?s Thanksgiving Parade, which pulled 22.4 million viewers to NBC. But that ranked just 23rd overall among all programs this fall and was a whopping 7.9 million viewers behind the leader, the Dallas-Washington regular-season finale in prime time on NBC in which the winner (Washington) was going to the playoffs and the loser was not.
NFL over-the-air telecasts (on NBC, Fox and CBS) averaged 19.3 million viewers, 154 percent more than the average prime-time viewership among the major ?free TV?? networks (7.6 million average on ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC). Not surprisingly, NBC?s ?Sunday Night Football?? was the most-watched prime-time show for the third consecutive fall, drawing an average of 21.4 million viewers. But that didn?t beat Sunday?s late-afternoon NFL coverage: Fox averaged 24.8 million viewers, 1.8 million more than CBS.
The NFL followed suit last weekend, as the first-round playoff games were the four most-watched programs on TV for the week.
On the other end, the NFL Nielsen numbers speak volumes about viewership differences between network and cable/satellite TV. Although ?Monday Night Football?? on ESPN was cable?s most-watched show of the fall for the seventh consecutive year, it drew just 12.8 million viewers on average. That was the lowest figure since 2008, when the number was 12 million. NFL Network?s expanded Thursday schedule (13 games this year) averaged 7.3 million viewers, but that includes those also watching on over-the-air stations in markets of the competing teams.
Top-viewed television shows this fall
Viewers
Network Event Date (millions)
1. NBC Sunday night (Cowboys-Redskins) Dec. 30 30.3
2. Fox Thanksgiving afternoon (Redskins-Cowboys) Nov. 22 28.7
3. NBC Sunday night (Steelers-Broncos) Sept. 9 27.6
4. CBS Thanksgiving afternoon (Texans-Lions) Nov. 22 27.3
5. Fox Sunday afternoon (primarily Giants-Cowboys) Oct. 28 26.9
6. CBS Sunday afternoon (primarily Steelers-Cowboys) Dec. 16 26.9
7. Fox Sunday afternoon (primarily Packers-Vikings) Dec. 30 26.4
8. Fox Sunday afternoon (primarily 49ers-Packers) Sept. 9 26.4
9. Fox Sunday afternoon (primarily 49ers-Saints) Nov. 25 24.9
10. CBS Sunday afternoon (primarily Broncos-Patriots) Oct. 7 24.5
11. Fox Sunday afternoon (primarily Saints-Giants) Dec. 9 24.5
12. Fox Sunday afternoon (primarily Cowboys-Eagles) Nov. 11 24.3
13. Fox Sunday afternoon (primarily Giants-Ravens) Dec. 23 24.2
14. CBS Sunday afternoon (Steelers-Giants) Nov. 4 24.2
15. CBS Sunday afternoon (primarily Texans-Broncos) Sept. 23 24.0
16. NBC Wednesday season kickoff (Cowboys-Giants) Sept. 5 23.9
17. CBS Sunday afternoon (Indy-NE & SD-Den) Nov. 18 23.6
18. NBC Sunday night (49ers-Patriots) Dec. 16 23.2
19. CBS Sunday afternoon (primarily Steelers-Ravens) Dec. 2 23.0
20. CBS Sunday afternoon (primarily Jets-Patriots) Oct. 21 23.0
21. Fox Sunday afternoon (primarily Giants-49ers) Oct. 14 22.8
22. NBC Sunday night (Giants-Eagles) Sept. 30 22.8
23. NBC Macy?s Thanksgiving Parade Nov. 22 22.4
24. Fox Sunday afternoon (mostly Saints-Packers) Sept. 30 22.3
25. NBC Sunday night (Cowboys-Falcons) Nov. 4 21.8
26. Fox Sunday afternoon (primarily NYG-ATL/GB-Chi) Dec. 16 21.4
27. NBC Sunday night (Lions-Packers) Dec. 9 21.4
28. NBC Sunday night (Lions-49ers) Sept. 16 21.3
29. NBC Sunday night (Patriots-Ravens) Sept. 23 21.3
30. Fox Sunday afternoon (primarily Minn-GB/TB-Den) Dec. 2 20.9
31. NBC Sunday night (Texans-Bears) Nov. 11 20.9
32. NBC Sunday night (Packers-Giants) Nov. 25 20.9
Source???NFL, The Nielsen Co.
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