or


[09/21/20 - 08:57 AM]
Sunday's Broadcast Ratings: "Sunday Night Football" Puts NBC in Front
By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC)

Primetime Preliminary Fast National Nielsen Data
(includes all DVR playback through 3:00 am)

Here are the highlights of the 19 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks last night (9/20/20):

[Note: Fast affiliate ratings are inaccurate for live sports.]

NBC (12.224 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 3.5, #1) was the network to beat on Sunday with its mix of "Football Night in America #1" (5.900 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 1.4, #6), "Football Night in America #2" (8.160 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 2.2, #5), "Football Night in America #3" (13.295 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 3.7, #3) and "Sunday Night Football" (14.088 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 4.2, #2).

CBS (7.208 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.7, #2) got a boost from "NFL Overrun" (16.994 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 4.4, #1) followed by the season premiere of "60 Minutes" (12.052 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 2.6, #4), originals from "Big Brother 22" (5.081 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 1.1, #7) and "Love Island" (2.399 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 0.6, #10) plus a repeat "NCIS: New Orleans" (1.610 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T12).

Next up was ABC (5.080 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.9, #3) with a special "Celebrity Family Feud" (4.991 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 0.7, #9) alongside "The 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards" (5.110 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 1.0, #8).

Meanwhile, FOX (1.035 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.3, #4) offered up repeats of "Last Man Standing" (2.035 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 0.5, #11), "Duncanville" (0.910 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T12), "The Simpsons" (0.902 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T12), "Bless the Harts" (0.730 million viewers, #17; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T12), "Bob's Burgers" (0.827 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T12) and "Family Guy" (0.804 million viewers, #16; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T12).

And finally, repeats of "Fridge Wars" (0.278 million viewers, #18; adults 18-49: 0.1, #T18) and "Supernatural" (0.255 million viewers, #19; adults 18-49: 0.1, #T18) on The CW (0.266 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.1, #5) rounded out the night.

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49):
+188.89% - 60 Minutes
+20.00% - Love Island
+10.00% - Big Brother 22
+4.76% - Football Night in America #2
0.00% - Football Night in America #1
0.00% - Celebrity Family Feud (vs. 7/12/20)
-5.13% - Football Night in America #3
-12.50% - Sunday Night Football

Year-to-year changes (adults 18-49):
+16.67% - Celebrity Family Feud (vs. America's Funniest Home Videos (Repeat))
-3.70% - 60 Minutes
-12.50% - Football Night in America #1
-14.29% - Love Island (vs. NCIS: Los Angeles (Repeat))
-15.38% - Big Brother 22
-18.52% - Football Night in America #2
-22.22% - Sunday Night Football
-22.92% - Football Night in America #3
-33.33% - The 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards (vs. 9/22/19 on FOX)


Here are the highlights of the 18 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks one year ago (9/22/19):

[Note: Fast affiliate ratings are inaccurate for live events.]

NBC (13.852 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 4.5, #1) cruised to another victory on Sunday with its mix of "Football Night in America #1" (5.738 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 1.6, #6), "Football Night in America #2" (8.925 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 2.7, #T4), "Football Night in America #3" (14.915 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 4.8, #T2) and "Sunday Night Football" (16.247 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 5.4, #1).

CBS (7.878 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.8, #2) then got a boost from "NFL Overrun" (17.722 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 4.8, #T2) followed by "60 Minutes" (11.826 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 2.7, #T4), "Big Brother 21" (5.814 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 1.3, #9), "NCIS: Los Angeles" (3.573 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 0.7, #10) and "Madam Secretary" (2.877 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T14).

Next up was FOX (5.970 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.4, #3) with its presentation of "FOX's Live Emmy Red Carpet Arrivals" (6.022 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 1.4, #8) and "The 71st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards" (5.953 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 1.5, #7). Said numbers were well short of NBC's telecast last year, "The 70th Primetime Emmy Awards" (9.082 million viewers; adults 18-49: 2.1), on a Monday night.

Meanwhile, ABC (3.599 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.5, #4) offered up a repeat "America's Funniest Home Videos" (4.178 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 0.6, #T11), a new "Celebrity Family Feud" (3.944 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 0.6, #T11) and the season finales of "The $100,000 Pyramid" (3.512 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 0.5, #13) and "To Tell the Truth" (2.763 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T14).

And finally, The CW (0.600 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.2, #5) closed out the night with repeats of "Penn & Teller: Fool Us" (0.698 million viewers, #16; adults 18-49: 0.2, #16), "Masters of Illusion" (0.558 million viewers, #17; adults 18-49: 0.1, #T17) and another "Masters of Illusion" (0.447 million viewers, #18; adults 18-49: 0.1, #T17).

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49):
+23.08% - Football Night in America #1
+12.50% - Football Night in America #2
+8.33% - Big Brother 21
+6.67% - Football Night in America #3
+1.89% - Sunday Night Football
-16.67% - The $100,000 Pyramid
-20.00% - To Tell the Truth
-25.00% - Celebrity Family Feud

Year-to-year changes (adults 18-49):
+11.63% - Football Night in America #3
+3.85% - Football Night in America #2
0.00% - Big Brother 21
0.00% - Celebrity Family Feud
-5.26% - Sunday Night Football
-5.88% - Football Night in America #1
-16.67% - The $100,000 Pyramid
-20.00% - To Tell the Truth
-28.57% - The 71st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (vs. 9/17/18)

Source: Nielsen Media Research





  [september 2020]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
  


· SHOWATCH
(series past and present)
· DEVWATCH
(series in development)
· MOVIEWATCH
(tv movies and mini-series)





most recent ratings | view all posts
[06/03/26 - 11:01 AM]
"Saturday Night Live" Season 51 Was #1 Among All Broadcast Comedy Series in the 18-49 Demo and #2 Among All Entertainment Series
The most-watched telecast of the season across all platforms was 10.1 million viewers on December 20 with host Ariana Grande and musical guest Cher.

[06/03/26 - 07:00 AM]
Fans Power UFL on ESPN to Significant Viewership Growth Across 10-Week Regular Season
ABC alone accounted for eight of the top 10 most-watched games.

[06/03/26 - 06:00 AM]
TNT Sports Caps Its Most Watched NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs with Its Most Watched Conference Final Ever
The record-setting series helped propel TNT Sports' overall coverage of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs to an average of 1.4 million viewers across TNT, TBS, truTV and HBO Max, up 50% from 2025 through the Conference Final.

[06/02/26 - 04:06 PM]
NBC and Peacock Deliver Most-Watched Conference Finals Game Since 2016 with 15.9 Million Viewers for Spurs-Thunder Game 7 on Saturday Night
Across 28 playoff games, NBC Sports' presentation of the 2026 NBA Playoffs averaged 7.2 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, up 72% versus comparable coverage last season.

[06/02/26 - 02:36 PM]
ESPN's WCWS Viewership Success Continues
Texas Tech-UCLA averaged 2.0 million viewers, with a peak of 2.6 million.

[06/02/26 - 02:13 PM]
FOX IndyCar Continues Ratings Growth with Strong Detroit Performance
Through eight races, IndyCar on FOX is averaging 2,241,000 viewers, up +12% from 2025 (2,007,000).

[06/02/26 - 02:00 PM]
FOX MLB's "Baseball Night in America" Delivers Most-Watched Baseball Telecast of the Week
2,322,000 viewers tuned-in to FOX for a two-game slate highlighted by the Cubs' 6-1 victory over the Cardinals in most of the country.

[06/02/26 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10: Week of May 25 - "The Boroughs" Makes Itself at Home at No. 1 in This Week's Top 10
Plus: "Nemesis" stole away with the No. 2 spot on the list, commanding 5.9 million views.

[06/01/26 - 11:04 AM]
ESPN Scored Most-Watched NCAA Women's College World Series Opening Thursday on Record
Arkansas-Nebraska averaged 1.4 million viewers, with a peak of 1.6 million.

[06/01/26 - 08:27 AM]
ESPN Scores Most-Viewed Stanley Cup Playoffs Western Conference Final Since 2015, The Latest Viewership Successes Headed Into the Stanley Cup Final
Across four games on ESPN, the series averaged 2.2 million viewers and was up 44% vs. the Western Conference Final last year (Edmonton vs. Dallas) which went five games on ESPN.

[05/29/26 - 03:02 PM]
"20/20" Is Friday's No. 1 Newsmagazine, Leading "Dateline" in Total Viewers for the 5th Consecutive Broadcast Season
"20/20" improved on the previous season in Total Viewers (+5%/+170,000 - 3.672 million vs. 3.502 million).

[05/29/26 - 03:01 PM]
ABC News Is #1 in Total Viewers Sunday Morning and in Late-Night
"Nightline" posted double-digit gains week to week in Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49.

[05/28/26 - 03:23 PM]
2026 NBA Eastern Conference Finals Presented by Dunkin' Finishes Strong with Average Audience of 7.4 Million Viewers Across ESPN and ABC
Additionally, Game 4 on ESPN averaged 7.2 million viewers, marking the most-viewed Eastern Conference Finals Game 4 across any network since 2018.

[05/28/26 - 11:00 AM]
CBS Outpaces Competitors with Eight of the Top 25 Series Across All Streaming and Broadcast Originals in Nielsen's All-Series Ranker
CBS has the most top 25 series of any streaming or broadcast competitor and twice as many as its closest broadcast competitor, including six series with 10+ million viewers.

[05/28/26 - 10:31 AM]
FOX Delivers Most-Watched UFL Game Since League Started in 2024
1,593,000 viewers watched as Louisville defeated Dallas 37-23 on Sunday.