The Big Four broadcast networks had the largest daily audience among all TV channels in 2024, with Paramount-owned CBS taking the top spot, according to trade publication Variety’s examination of daily Nielsen reports.
CBS managed to attract an average daily audience of slightly more than 5 million viewers throughout the year, an increase of 12 percent compared to last year. That was enough to de-throne the top network in 2023, Comcast-owned NBC, which logged 4.537 million viewers that year. NBC came in second place with an average daily audience of 4.99 million viewers, an increase of 10 percent on a year-over basis.
The Walt Disney Company’s ABC and Fox Corporation’s flagship network came in third and fourth place, respectively, despite logging year-over viewership declines. ABC had an average daily audience of 3.861 million viewers (down 1 percent), while Fox had 2.841 million viewers (down 15 percent).
CBS was helped in part by the network’s broadcast of Super Bowl LVIII (58), which saw the Kansas City Chiefs take on the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas. The championship National Football League drew 121 million viewers to CBS, making it the most-watched prime-time show of the year, according to Nielsen ratings reviewed by Variety.
Football broadcasts on NBC rounded out the top 10 list of most-watched prime-time shows, assisted in large part by several divisional playoff games aired on the network, as well as two Thursday evening football broadcasts that were on the network instead of Amazon’s Prime Video.
The 2024 Presidential Debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris in September was the first non-football event to make the prime-time list, ranking 12th with 20.2 million viewers. The event was produced by ABC and simulcast on other broadcast networks. Variety said its count for the presidential debate was for ABC alone, while simulcasts on other networks managed to attract 67.1 million viewers overall. Had Variety ranked the simulcasts as a collective, the debate would have ranked second on the trade publication’s list of most-watched prime-time shows, edging out the NFC Championship game between the San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions, which had 56.6 million viewers.
Not counting award shows, sports events or news broadcasts, the most-watched prime-time show of 2024 was an episode of “Tracker” aired on CBS in mid-November. The program grabbed 11.861 million viewers to be the 69th most-watched prime-time show overall.
On cable, the Fox News Channel was the most-watched network of 2024, with an average daily audience of 2.5 million viewers, up 30 percent compared to last year. ESPN came in second place, with 1.674 million viewers, down 2 percent on a year-over basis, while MSNBC was third with 1.263 million viewers, up 4 percent.
CNN came in 15th place among all networks, and 11th among non-broadcast networks, with an average daily audience of 707,000 viewers, up 20 percent compared to last year. While CNN’s overall viewership was up for the year, its overall and prime-time ratings have sagged in the post-election period, the byproduct of news fatigue among American adults.
CNN has seen its post-election audience drop by 45 percent, according to Nielsen ratings cited by the Associated Press, while MSNBC’s post-election ratings have dipped 54 percent. Fox News has seen its post-election ratings increase 13 percent; among those who are watching post-election coverage on cable, 72 percent are turning to Fox News, the AP said.
