Sports programming continued to boost traditional linear television networks during Nielsen’s most-recent measurement week, with professional football and college football games dominating the top 10 most-watched events, according to data reviewed by The Desk.
National Football League (NFL) games accounted for four of the top 10 most-watched programs between December 1 and December 7, while shoulder programming — including pre-game, kickoff and post-game coverage — giving NFL programming eight of the top 10 slots on the ranker.
The most-watched NFL programming block was on Fox, with its 4 p.m. Eastern Time games attracting 27.94 million viewers. The highest-rated single game was on NBC — the Sunday Night Football match-up between the Houston Texans and the Kansas City Chiefs, with 21.76 million viewers and a solid 6.8 share.
Two college football championship games — Indiana versus Ohio State (FOX) and Georgia at Alabama State (ABC) — also ranked among the top programming for the week.
Sports aside, the most-watched news program of the week was ABC’s “World News Tonight,” with an average audience of 8.29 million viewers and a 2.6 share for its broadcasts between Monday and Thursday evenings. “Tracker” on CBS was the highest-rated scripted program, with 8 million viewers and a 2.5 share.
On the cable side, ESPN’s telecast of Monday Night Football and its pre- and post-game programming captured the top three slots as ranked by Nielsen, with the game between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots capturing 11.348 million viewers.
In the cable news wars, Fox News maintained its leading position with seven of the top 10 broadcasts during the week. Its roundtable panel show “The Five” captured 3.4 million to 3.77 million viewers per episode. MS NOW, former MSNBC, clinched second place with an average daily audience of 965,000 viewers, displacing CNN, which fell to third place.
Hallmark’s strong slate of Christmas movies and original holiday-themed programming helped it rank among the top cable networks for another week, with an average daily audience of 711,000 viewers and a 0.3 share. Hallmark’s linear multiplex is available across the country on streaming services Frndly TV and Philo.
Top-Rated Broadcast TV Programs
Rank
Network
Show
P2+ Viewers
P2+ Share
1
NFL on Fox (4:00 p.m. games)
27.943 million
8.7
2
Sunday Night Football: HOU/KC
21.762 million
6.8
3
Big 10: Indiana vs. Ohio St.
18.332 million
5.7
4
NFL on Fox (1:05 p.m. games)
16.172 million
5.0
5
Sunday NFL pre-game coverage
16.157 million
5.0
6
SEC: Georgia @ Alabama State
15.747 million
4.9
7
NFL on CBS (1:05 p.m. games)
14.616 million
4.5
8
Big 10: pre-game coverage
13.768 million
4.3
9
The OT
13.281 million
4.1
10
Football Night in America: pt. 3
11.278 million
3.5
Source: Nielsen Big Data + Panel (December 1-7, 2025), viewership data is rounded
Top-Rated Cable TV Programs
Rank
Network
Show
P2+ Viewers
P2+ Share
1
Monday Night Football: NYG/NE
11.348 million
3.5
2
Monday Night Football: pre-game
6.633 million
2.1
3
Monday Night Football: post-game
4.496 million
1.4
4
The Five (Dec. 3)
3.767 million
1.2
5
The Five (Dec. 2)
3.699 million
1.2
6
The Five (Dec. 4)
3.664 million
1.1
7
The Five (Dec. 1)
3.596 million
1.1
8
The Five (Dec. 5)
3.408 million
1.1
9
Jesse Watters Primetime (Dec. 2)
2.989 million
0.9
10
Jesse Watters Primetime (Dec. 1)
2.905 million
0.9
Source: Nielsen Big Data + Panel (December 1-7, 2025), viewership data is rounded
Top TV Networks, Prime-Time (Broadcast/Cable)
Rank
Network
P2+ Viewers
P2+ Share
1
5.667 million
1.8
2
5.236 million
1.6
3
3.87 million
1.2
4
2.832 million
0.9
5
2.446 million
0.8
6
2.088 million
0.7
7
1.221 million
0.4
8
986,000
0.3
9
965,000
0.3
10
