ratings

Summer TV broadcast viewing patterns continue to follow that of recent live, linear television trends overall — registering double-digit percentage declines in viewing, with national TV spend also sinking. After nearly two months, season-to-date viewership dropped 25% to average 1.81 million viewers per summer prime-time episode, according to Nielsen’s live program-plus-seven days of time-shifted video-on-demand metric for May 25-Aug. 13.

The 2023 Women’s World Cup has managed record-breaking viewership across the globe. In the U.S., Fox’s coverage was up slightly from 2019, despite several challenges, including frustrating time zone differences and an unexpected early elimination for the USWNT. The average audience for the team U.S. group stage games was the highest it’s ever been at 4.3M viewers (including one overnight game). Even without the USA in the competition, Fox still reported strong audiences throughout the rest of the tournament.

CBS’s Big Brother dominated Wednesday in both total viewers and in the demo with 3.2 million total viewers and a 0.6 demo rating.

NFL Network scores third-place primetime finish with pre-season football games.

MSNBC’s coverage topped out during the 9 p.m. ET hour on Monday, in which The Rachel Maddow Show featured live reports from Georgia as well as a pre-scheduled sitdown interview with Hillary Clinton. Maddow’s show averaged 3.9 million viewers, a big spike from the 2.45 million average viewers Maddow received last month.

Broadcast and cable’s share of viewing dropped below 50% to 49.6% as streaming hit a new high in July, according to Nielsen. Broadcast’s share was 20% in July, a new low, down from 20.8% in June. Cable had a 29.6% share, down from 30.6%. It’s the first time cable’s share had been below 30%.

CBS’s Big Brother led Wednesday both in total viewers (3.1 million) and in the demo (0.6). On The CW, Nancy Drew (395,000/0.0) rose to match its second-best audience of the season.

ABC’s game show lineup is making a splash on Sunday nights. Celebrity Family Feud and The $100,000 Pyramid recently drew their biggest audiences of the summer, according to Nielsen data. After seven days of delayed viewing for the July 30 episodes, both posted double-digit audience gains.

MLB remains solid, while Generation Gap and The Prank Panel take hits.

The game on Monday in Auckland, New Zealand, which kicked off at 3 a.m. ET, averaged 1,354,000 viewers. Fox and Nielsen said the audience peaked at 1.73 million for the final 15 minutes. Fox said the match was the most-watched overnight program in its history.

ABC’s Sunday game shows tied CBS’s 60 Minutes rerun for the demo win, while the latter also clocked in with the night’s largest audience. Leading out of 60 Minutes (5.3 million/0.3), Tough as Nails‘ finale (2.5M/0.2) delivered a season high in audience. On CW, The Chosen (450,000/0.0) appears to have gained a few more followers in Week 3.

Discovery Channel’s 35th annual presentation led by actor Jason Momoa dominated primetime across linear and streaming.

The game on Thursday afternoon in Wellington, New Zealand, which kicked off at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday night, averaged 6,429,000 viewers on Fox, making it the most-watched group stage telecast since Fox started covering it in 2015. Fox and Nielsen said the audience peaked at 8.45 million for the final 15 minutes.

Linear TV viewing declines continue, with the top 20 summer TV shows down 15% to 3.6 million average viewers using Nielsen’s live airing-plus-7 days of time-shifted viewing metric for the period from May 25 to July 16. The heavy non-scripted summer TV period has also been affected by some broadcast TV networks delaying the start of top summer performers and moving fresh TV content into the fall primetime schedule.

ABC’s The Bachelorette led Monday in the demo, while CBS’s The Neighborhood rerun copped the night’s largest audience. ABC’s Claim to Fame dropped hard to series lows of 1.6 million viewers and 0.2 in the demo.

Three ABC game shows tied for the Sunday demo win with 0.3s, while CBS’s 60 Minutes rerun clocked in with the night’s largest audience (4.7 million/0.2)

The United States’ 3-0 victory over Vietnam in the Women’s World Cup drew 6.26 million viewers, making it the most-watched soccer telecast in the U.S. since last year’s men’s World Cup final. It is also the largest combined English- and Spanish-language audience for a U.S. women’s group stage match.

ABC’s broadcast of this year’s CMA Fest (3.5 million total viewers/0.4) tied for the Wednesday demo win while also delivering (though just barely) the night’s largest audience. On Fox, Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars (1.4M/0.2) tied and hit demo lows.

ABC’s soon-to-swap Claim to Fame (2.5M viewers/0.4 demo rating) and The Bachelorette (2.1M/0.4) led Monday in the demo, while NBC’s Ninja Warrior (3M/0.3) claimed the night’s largest audience.

The award ceremony celebrating excellence in sports nabbed a 0.41 rating among adults 18-49. (Image: ESPN)

There was a three-way tie for the Monday demo win, while CBS’s The Price Is Right at Night rerun easily drew the night’s biggest audience. On Fox, Stars on Mars dipped to a new audience low (830,000 total viewers) while steady in the demo (with a 0.2).

Amid continued TV viewership erosion that is down by double-digit percentages, NBC’s America’s Got Talent continues as the most-watched primetime show on broadcast TV this summer so far with 7.7 million viewers, according to Nielsen live airing-plus-seven days of time-shifted viewing through June 25. The good news for NBC’s entertainment competition reality show is that it was down only 2.3% versus the same time period a year ago.

CBS’s The Price Is Right at Night easily led Wednesday both in total viewers (with 3.6 million) and in the demo (scoring a 0.4). The CW’s Riverdale added a handful of eyeballs and ticked up in the demo with 400,000/0.1).

Fox News Channel experienced a chaotic second quarter of 2023, one which featured the landmark $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems and the ouster of primetime star Tucker Carlson in April. Amid the chaos, Fox News not only marked its 86th consecutive quarter as the top-rated cable news network in total viewers, and No. 1 in total viewers and among Adults 25-54 for nine straight quarters. It also continued to average more total day viewers than any other basic cable network.

ABC’s coverage of what would be the deciding game in this year’s NBA Finals — in which the Nuggets beat the Heat to claim their first title — dominated the night with 10 million total viewers and a 3.0 demo rating. Fox’s Stars on Mars (970,000/0.2) lost 25% of its premiere audience.

The 76th Annual Tony Awards managed to persevere on Sunday despite the ongoing writers strike, drawing a three-year high of 4.31 million viewers. The three-hour telecast, which almost didn’t happen due to the strike, aired live on CBS coast-to-coast for the second year in a row and streaming on Paramount+ and the CBS digital platforms, according to early Nielsen data. Pictured: host Ariana DeBose.

It’s possible – likely, even – that Chris Licht would have survived all of this if it weren’t for the one thing that really mattered: the numbers.

ABC’s coverage of the NBA Finals Game 3 dominated Wednesday in all measures, averaging 8.5 million total viewers and a 2.4 demo rating, which is pretty much on par with Game 2’s preliminary numbers. The CW’s Nancy Drew (470,000/0.1) grew 19% in viewers to match its best audience since the Season 2 finale.

NBC’s America’s Got Talent easily led Tuesday both in the demo and in total viewers with 6 million/0.6). Superman & Lois (666,000/0.1) inched up to its best audience since April 4 (and third-largest of the season), with just two episodes left to go.

NBC’s American Ninja Warrior (3 million/0.4) tied ABC’s Celebrity Family Feud (3.5M/0.4)rerun for the Monday demo win, while the latter also delivered the night’s biggest audience.

Daytime may not be the new primetime, but at a time when linear viewing is shrinking, new research from iSpot.tv shows daytime programming growing and grabbing a bigger share of viewership. iSpot said that during the 2022-23 TV season, the advertising impressions generated by daytime programming grew 1.3% to 860.3 billion. By contrast, primetime ad impressions dropped 3%. Daytime programming’s share of all linear impressions hit 17.7%.

Fox News Channel’s primetime viewing, with Tucker Carlson’s departure, took took a big hit in May: down 32% to 1.42 million Nielsen average viewers versus April’s results (2.07 million). Still, the Fox Corp.-owned channel maintained the highest ratings among all cable news networks.

Now wrapping its run on NBC on Thursday nights, a first episode of The Blacklist drew a season high audience of 2.71 million total viewers, while steady with a 0.2 demo rating. A second episode did 2.2M (nearly matching this season’s second-biggest audience) and another 0.2. Leading the night on ABC, the Denver Nuggets’ Game 1 win over the Miami Heat averaged 7.6 million total viewers and a 2.2 demo rating, down just 5% in audience from last year’s Celtics/Warriors opener.