Nielsen said Tuesday the weekend’s nationally televised games averaged 13.8 million viewers, down from 14.8 million the week before. Opening week registered 16.3 million viewers and the second week had 15.8 million. CBS averaged 9.5 million viewers in primetime last week. NBC had 7.8 million viewers, ABC had 5.8 million, Fox had 3.1 million, Telemundo had 1.4 million, Univision had 1.38 million, Ion Television had 1.1 million and the CW had 900,000.
NETWORK RATINGS ROUNDUP: SEPT. 25-OCT. 1
NFL Ratings Down On Weekend Of Boycott
NEW YORK (AP) — The National Football League is continuing a steady decline in audience, with its fourth week of games having the smallest audience on a weekend when some conservatives called for a boycott because some of its players used the national anthem to protest against police treatment of minorities.
The Nielsen company said Tuesday the weekend’s nationally televised games averaged 13.8 million viewers, down from 14.8 million the week before. Opening week registered 16.3 million viewers and the second week had 15.8 million.
Fox News Channel personality Sean Hannity was among the people who said they would not be watching NFL games. It’s virtually impossible to tell what kind of an impact it had, considering the trend that preceded it. The only prime-time entertainment shows to rank higher last week were CBS’ “The Big Bang Theory” and its spinoff, “Young Sheldon.”
“Did it have an impact?” asked Brent Bozell, head of the conservative Media Research Center. “Yeah, it did. I can guarantee it did with one person — that’s me. Beyond that, I don’t know.”
Bozell said, however, that the MRC’s Facebook post calling for the one-week boycott was seen by nearly 35 million people.
An NFL spokesman, Brian McCarthy, said there was no indication that the boycott had any impact, both on television and in the stands. He noted how viewership in general is down for television, and that there has been great competition with a busy news period.
“NFL games continue to be the most valuable programming for networks and remain incredibly strong,” he said.
The week’s other big media story, the debut of Megyn Kelly on NBC’s “Today” show, attracted an average of 2.51 million viewers, Nielsen said. That’s a 2 percent increase over the same time slot a week earlier. But it’s down 12 percent from the same week a year before, with the decline even steeper — 24 percent — among the youthful demographic that NBC seeks for its news programs.
BRAND CONNECTIONS
Because the competing “Live with Kelly and Ryan” is a syndicated show, Nielsen will not have comparable ratings for another week.
Kelly received some rough reviews for her first week, but the viewership numbers will be NBC’s ultimate report card.
CBS, led by its two comedies, was the most popular broadcast network during premiere week for the ninth year in a row. Yet viewership for CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox in prime time last week was down 11 percent from the 2016 premiere week, Nielsen said. Viewership declines aren’t unusual at a time people are increasingly watching TV on their own schedules, but by comparison, the four-network decline between 2015 and 2016 was 5 percent.
Networks will have a clearer picture of how its new programming is doing in coming weeks when time-shifted viewing is added in.
Some network highlights: “Young Sheldon” was the most-watched new comedy since “Two Broke Girls” in 2011. NBC’s feel-good drama “This is Us” returned with its biggest audience ever. And the ABC drama “The Good Doctor” opened with considerable promise.
CBS averaged 9.5 million viewers in primetime last week. NBC had 7.8 million viewers, ABC had 5.8 million, Fox had 3.1 million, Telemundo had 1.4 million, Univision had 1.38 million, Ion Television had 1.1 million and the CW had 900,000.
ESPN was the most popular cable network, averaging 3.02 million in prime time. Fox News Channel had 2.23 million, MSNBC had 1.63 million, USA had 1.39 million and HGTV had 1.17 million.
ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 8.2 million. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 7.8 million and “CBS Evening News” had 6.1 million.
The Top 20
Primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Sept. 25-Oct. 1. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.
1. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 17.66 million.
2. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 17.22 million.
3. NFL Football: Indianapolis at Seattle, NBC, 16.73 million.
4. NFL Football: Chicago at Green Bay, CBS, 14.61 million.
5. NFL Football: Dallas at Arizona, ESPN, 13.7 million.
6. NFL weather delay, CBS, 13.39 million.
7. “NCIS,” CBS, 13.29 million.
8. “This is Us,” NBC, 12.94 million.
9. “Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick,” NBC, 12.72 million.
10. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 12.46 million.
11. “The Good Doctor,” ABC, 11.35 million.
12. “Thursday Night NFL Pre-Kick,” CBS, 11.34 million.
13. “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC, 10.93 million.
14. “The Voice” (Monday), NBC, 10.57 million.
15. “Kevin Can Wait,” CBS, 10.26 million.
16. “Will & Grace,” NBC, 10.19 million.
17. “Bull,” CBS, 10.06 million.
18. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 10.04 million.
19. “Seal Team,” CBS, 9.88 million.
20. “Football Night in America, Part 3,” NBC, 9.86 million.
Comments (5)
Cheryl Thorne says:
October 4, 2017 at 4:42 am
Another example of the left stream media another words the left trying to drive a wedge between the President’s voters and himself and its backfired. . The useful idiots ..the players..went along with it and viewership has dropped 15% from week one..That’s a lot of money going to be owed to advertisers in makegoods…Is there anything the left supports/touches that turns out well??
Jill Hatzioannou says:
October 4, 2017 at 11:08 am
Oh, the horror. Three of the top rated primetime programs were the three NFL games played in primetime. The sixth rated program was one of those football games when it was in rain delay. Think about that, a rain delay had more viewers than Fox News. Yep, those football player guys are all gonna be looking for work within weeks.
Tom Hardin says:
October 4, 2017 at 9:51 am
Didn’t I read/hear years ago, that the “regressive-progressives” wanted to destroy the NFL? and remove all sports, fundamentally transforming America into a Socialist mecca?
alicia farmer says:
October 4, 2017 at 10:49 am
Yes. You read it in mom’s basement, wearing your tinfoil hat.
Veronica Serrano Padilla says:
October 4, 2017 at 6:02 pm
LMAO!!