Football Season Transforming TV Ratings

NEW YORK (AP) — Television’s fall season is already in full swing — the football season.

Fresh entertainment programming doesn’t begin until next week, after the Emmy Awards. Football is so dominant now that 11 of the 20 most-watched primetime programs last week were either games or shows about the games. The top non-football event in the rankings, CBS’ “60 Minutes,” is there in large measure because it comes directly after an NFL game.

The Thursday night kickoff game to the NFL season, between Pittsburgh and New England, was seen by 27.4 million people. Only one other game — in 2010 between Minnesota and New Orleans — had more viewers in the 14 years that the NFL has done this season opening game.

Similarly, the New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys game was seen by 26.8 million, second only to a 2012 Pittsburgh-Denver for the most-watched first Sunday night game in the 10 years NBC has been televising them, the Nielsen company said.

In an oddly compelling competition on Sunday night, AMC’s “Fear the Walking Dead” narrowly beat ABC’s coverage of the annual “Miss America” pageant, 7.2 million to 7.1 million viewers.

Thanks to the two primetime NFL games, NBC trounced the competition with an average of 11.3 million viewers last week. CBS had 5.9 million viewers, ABC had 4.3 million, Univision had 2.4 million, Fox had 2.1 million, Telemundo had 1.4 million, Ion Television had 1.1 million and the CW had 1.05 million.

ESPN was the most popular cable network in primetime, averaging 3.69 million viewers last week. Fox News Channel had 1.7 million, USA had 1.62 million, the Disney Channel had 1.55 million and HGTV had 1.43 million.

NBC’s “Nightly News” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 8.2 million viewers. ABC’s “World News” was second with 7.8 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 6.3 million viewers.

The Top 20

Primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Sept. 7-13. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.

1. NFL Football: Pittsburgh at New England, NBC, 27.4 million.

2. NFL Football: N.Y. Giants at Dallas, NBC, 26.77 million.

3. “NFL Pregame Show” (Thursday), NBC, 20.99 million.

4. “NFL Pregame Show” (Sunday), NBC, 20.03 million.

5. “Football Night in America” (Sunday, 7:57 p.m.), NBC, 14.89 million.

6. “NFL Today Post-Game Show,” CBS, 14.31 million.

7. “NFL Opening Kickoff Show,” NBC, 12.56 million.

8. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 11.46 million.

9. College Football: Ohio St. vs. Virginia Tech, ESPN, 10.59 million.

10. “America’s Got Talent” (Tuesday), NBC, 10.53 million.

11. “Football Night in America” (Sunday, 7:30 p.m.), NBC, 9.89 million.

12. “America’s Got Talent” (Wednesday), NBC, 9.46 million.

13. “NCIS,” CBS, 8.42 million.

14. College Football: Oregon at Michigan St., ABC, 7.9 million.

15. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 7.68 million.

16. “Fear the Walking Dead,” AMC, 7.19 million.

17. “Miss America,” ABC, 7.1 million.

18. “College Football Post-Game Show” (Monday), ESPN, 7.07 million.

19. “Big Brother” (Sunday), CBS, 7.02 million.

20. “Big Brother” (Wednesday), CBS, 6.56 million.