Fox last week continued its ratings dominance with a strong slate of football games and cable news programming, according to the latest data from Nielsen shared with The Desk on Wednesday.
Fox Sports had the top television broadcast of the week with its late afternoon window of National Football League (NFL) games on November 16, attracting a total of 27.82 million viewers and grabbing a 1.6 share, the data showed.
CBS was not too far behind with its early afternoon window of games, amassing 24.28 million viewers and clinching a 7.5 share. The most-watched single event of the week was the “Sunday Night Football” game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Los Angeles Rams on NBC, pulling in 16.51 million viewers and grabbing a 5.1 share.
The top ten most-watched television events or shows during the measurement week all aired on broadcast networks, with Monday evening’s telecast of “World News Tonight” on ABC rounding out the broadcast TV ranker with 8.04 million viewers and a 2.5 share.
By comparison, the top program on cable TV — ESPN’s broadcast of “Monday Night football” between the Dallas Cowboys and the Las Vegas Raiders — brought in just 6.81 million viewers, Nielsen data showed.
Beyond football, cable belonged to Fox News, with the network continuing to see a strong audience for its political panels show “The Five” and prime-time commentary program “Jesse Watters Primetime,” which attracted north of 3 million viewers per episode.
Fox News helped kick off the Christmas season with its annual broadcast of the All American Tree Lighting from Fox Square in New York City. The Friday evening special was the seventh-most watched TV program on cable during Nielsen’s measurement week, drawing 3.17 million viewers with a 1.0 share.
During the ceremony, Fox News Media delivered its first batch of more than 5,000 toys donated to the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program. All toys were donated by Fox News Media employees and viewers, a spokesperson for the network told The Desk in an e-mail.
Continuing the Christmas theme, Hallmark Media ranked among the top broadcast and cable networks in prime-time during the week, attracting an average audience of 637,000 viewers with its slate of “Countdown to Christmas” movies and TV series.
ABC won in prime-time with 4.72 million viewers, its average boosted by a simulcast of ESPN’s Monday Night Football game between the Cowboys and Raiders. The broadcast network simulcast brought in 10.35 million viewers, adding to ESPN’s 6.81 million viewers for a total audience of just over 17 million viewers across both networks.
Top-Rated Broadcast TV Programs
Rank
Network
Show
P2+ Viewers
P2+ Share
1
NFL on Fox (4:25p ET games)
27.82 million
8.6
2
NFL on CBS (1:05p ET games)
24.28 million
7.5
3
Sunday Night Football: TB/LAR
16.51 million
5.1
4
NFL on Fox (1:05p ET games)
10.67 million
3.3
5
Football Night in America: pt.3
10.43 million
3.2
6
Monday Night Football: DAL/LV
10.35 million
3.2
7
NFL on CBS (4:25p ET game)
8.94 million
2.8
8
Tracker
8.14 million
2.5
9
ABC World News Tonight (11/18-11/20)
8.07 million
2.5
10
ABC World News Tonight (11/17)
8.04 million
2.5
Source: Nielsen Big Data + Panel (November 17-23, 2025), viewership data is rounded
Top-Rated Cable TV Programs
Rank
Network
Show
P2+ Viewers
P2+ Share
1
Monday Night Football: DAL/LV
6.81 million
2.1
2
Monday Night Football: Kickoff
4.56 million
1.4
3
The Five (11/17)
3.82 million
1.2
4
The Five (11/18)
3.82 million
1.2
5
The Five (11/19)
3.69 million
1.1
6
The Five (11/20)
3.55 million
1.1
7
All American Tree Lighting
3.17 million
1.0
8
Jesse Watters Primetime (11/18)
3.06 million
1.0
9
Special Report/Bret Baier (11/18)
2.91 million
0.9
10
Jesse Watters Primetime (11/19)
2.84 million
0.9
Source: Nielsen Big Data + Panel (November 17-23, 2025), viewership data is rounded
Top TV Networks, Prime-Time (Broadcast/Cable)
Rank
Network
P2+ Viewers
P2+ Share
1
4.72 million
1.5
2
3.79 million
1.2
3
3.63 million
1.1
4
2.47 million
0.8
5
2.12 million
0.7
6
2.12 million
0.7
7
1.22 million
0.4
8
1.04 million
0.3
9
1.01 million
0.3
10
