Two episodes of “America’s Got Talent” and two nights of sporting events enabled NBC to be the only network to draw a larger prime-time audience than Fox News Channel last week.
The two-hour Tuesday “America’s Got Talent” episode was the most-watched prime-time program between Aug. 23 and Sunday, averaging 6.809 million viewers, while the hourlong Wednesday episode was third, averaging 5.79 million. An “America’s Got Talent” episode has been the most-watched prime-time program seven times in the 11 weeks it has aired this summer.
NBC’s coverage of the Cleveland Browns’ 19-10 victory over the Atlanta Falcons in an NFL preseason game Sunday was fifth, averaging 5.063 million viewers. The Coke Zero Sugar 400 NASCAR race Saturday on NBC was 12th, averaging 3.928 million. Two other prime-time programs averaged more than 5 million viewers.
An edition of the CBS News magazine “60 Minutes,” with three previously broadcast segments that were updated, averaged 6.754 million viewers to finish second for the third consecutive week following the conclusion of NBC’s coverage of the Summer Olympics.
Former President Donald Trump’s second appearance in two weeks on the Fox News Channel political talk show “Hannity” was fourth for the week, averaging 5.445 million viewers. NBC averaged 3.41 million viewers for the week, 34.8% more than its 2.53 million average the previous week, when it was third behind Fox News
Channel and CBS and its seven hours of weekend programming included six hours of reruns of alternative programming. Fox News Channel was second, averaging 3.062 million viewers, 4.3% more than its 2.936 million average the previous week when it topped all the broadcast networks.
CBS was third, averaging 2.71 million, followed by ABC, which averaged 2.64 million. NBC, Fox News Channel, CBS and ABC all broadcast 22 hours of prime-time programming. Fox averaged 1.41 million viewers for its 15 hours of programming, to finish fifth.
ABC’s most-watched program was a rerun of “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” seventh for the week, averaging 4.757 million viewers. “Hell’s Kitchen” was Fox’s most-watched program for the second consecutive week, averaging 2.538 million viewers, 46th for the week.
The Canadian crime drama “Coroner” was The CW’s most-watched program for the second consecutive week, averaging 715,000 viewers, 156th among broadcast programs. Its overall rank was not available. The CW again was fifth among the five major English-language broadcast networks, averaging 440,000 viewers for its 12 hours of programming. The week’s only premiere on the five major English-language broadcast networks, the ABC competition series “The Ultimate Surfer,” was 74th among broadcast programs, averaging 1.432 million viewers. Its overall rank was not available.
Fox News Channel finished first in primetime among cable networks for the eighth consecutive week, averaging 3.062 million viewers. Fox News Channel had each of the six most-watched prime-time cable programs and 15 of the top 16. MSNBC was second among cable networks for the third consecutive week, averaging 1.376 million viewers, 15% more than its 1.197 million average the previous week.
ESPN was third, averaging 1.248 million viewers, and HGTV fourth, averaging 1.145 million. CNN was fifth for the second consecutive week, averaging 985,000, 4.5% more than its 943,000 average the previous week. The most-watched prime-time Spanish language program was the Monday episode of the Univision telenovela “Si nos dejan,” which averaged 1.733 million viewers, putting it 53rd among broadcast programs. Its overall rank is not available.
Univision was the most-watched Spanish-language network for the 91st consecutive week and 93rd time in 94 weeks, averaging 1.38 million viewers. Telemundo was second, averaging 980,000 viewers, followed by UniMas (500,000), Estrella TV (110,000) and Azteca America (40,000).
ABC’s “World News Tonight with David Muir” was the most-watched network nightly newscast for the 91st consecutive week, the 142nd time in 143 weeks and the 194th time in 196 weeks, averaging 8.087 million viewers. “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” was second, averaging 6.891 million viewers, followed by the “CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell,” which averaged 4.733 million viewers.
The week’s 10 most-watched prime-time programs were the Tuesday edition of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent”; CBS’ “60 Minutes”; the Wednesday edition of “America’s Got Talent’; the Thursday edition of Fox News Channel’s “Hannity”; NBC’s coverage of the Cleveland-Atlanta NFL preseason game; the Thursday edition of the Fox News Channel political talk show, “Tucker Carlson Tonight”; ABC’s “America’s Funniest Home Videos” and “Celebrity Family Feud”; the Sunday episode of CBS’ “Big Brother”; and the ABC game show “The Chase.”
