National Football League (NFL) programming accounted for most of television’s highest-rated programming during the week of September 14 through September 20, with NFL and college football telecasts filling much of Nielsen’s most-recent broadcast and cable rankings.
Those reports, based on Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel ratings data, showed NFL games and related programming claimed nine of the top 12 broadcast TV airings and five of the top 12 cable TV telecasts among total viewers during the week.
Fox’s national NFL window was the most-watched program of the week across broadcast and cable, drawing 27.2 million viewers and an 8.45 rating among people age 2 and older. NBC’s “Sunday Night Football,” which featured the Indianapolis Colts’ road game against the Kansas City Chiefs, ranked second with 24.3 million viewers and a 7.54 rating.
CBS’s regional NFL coverage placed third with 19.3 million viewers and a 6.01 rating.
NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” pre-kickoff coverage ranked fourth with 18 million viewers. ABC’s “Monday Night Football” broadcast of the Denver Broncos at the Chiefs finished fifth among broadcast telecasts with 14.4 million viewers.
College football also delivered one of the week’s largest broadcast audiences. ABC’s Saturday night telecast featuring Louisiana State University at the University of Mississippi drew 10.9 million viewers.
ABC’s “World News Tonight” was the only non-NFL program to appear in the broadcast top 12, averaging 8.2 million viewers for the week.
On cable, ESPN’s coverage of the Broncos-Chiefs “Monday Night Football” game ranked first with 8.1 million viewers. The audience was strong enough to lead all cable programming for the week, though it trailed the game’s broadcast simulcast on ABC.
ESPN’s “Monday Night Kickoff” followed with 4.6 million viewers. The network also placed two Saturday afternoon college football windows in the cable top 12, with North Carolina at Clemson and Kentucky at Texas A&M each drawing more than 3 million viewers.
Fox News accounted for the rest of cable’s highest-performing programs. Five weekday airings of “The Five” between September 14 and September 18 drew between 2.6 million and 2.8 million viewers. “Jesse Watters Primetime” also ranked among cable’s top 12 programs with 2.6 million viewers for its September 16 episode.
Broadcast television continued to hold a significant scale advantage over cable during the week: Eleven of the 12 most-watched telecasts across all of television aired on broadcast networks, with ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” coverage the only cable program to break into the combined top 12.
An abbreviated list of the top broadcast and cable programs for the week appears below:
Top Broadcast TV Programs
NFL on Fox (National games)
27.2 million
8.5
Sunday Night Football (IND/KC)
24.3 million
7.5
NFL on CBS (Various teams)
19.3 million
6.0
Sunday Night Football pre-game
18 million
5.6
Monday Night Football (DEN/KC)
14.4 million
4.5
NFL on Fox (Regional games)
13.7 million
4.3
Football Night in America (part 3)
12 million
3.7
NFL on Fox: Post-game (The OT)
11.7 million
3.7
Saturday Night Football (LSU/MSt)
10.9 million
3.4
Sunday Night Football post-game
9 million
2.8Top Cable TV Programs
Monday Night Football (DEN/KC)
8.1 million
2.5
Monday Night Football pre-game
4.6 million
1.4
College Football Afternoon (NC/Clem)
3.6 million
1.1
College Football Afternoon (KY/TX A&M)
3 million
1.0
Monday Night Football post-game
3 million
0.9
The Five (Tuesday)
2.8 million
0.8
The Five (Monday)
2.8 million
0.8
The Five (Wednesday)
2.7 million
0.8
The Five (Thursday)
2.7 million
0.8
Jesse Watters Primetime (Wednesday)
2.6 million
0.8
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