The return of college football boosted ABC to a win in the weekly television ratings.
The network scored with Sunday night’s overtime thriller between Notre Dame and Texas, which was behind only “America’s Got Talent” among television’s most popular shows last week, and Saturday’s less thrilling game between USC and Alabama.
The games enabled ABC to narrowly beat NBC for bragging rights as the top network in the rerun-filled week before Labor Day, the Nielsen company said.
ABC averaged 5.2 million viewers in prime time to NBC’s 5.18 million. CBS had 4.3 million viewers, Fox had 2 million, Univision had 1.7 million, Telemundo had 1.4 million, ION Television had 1.3 million and the CW had 1.1 million.
Fox News Channel was the most popular cable network, averaging 2.14 million viewers in prime time. HGTV had 1.57 million, USA had 1.49 million, ESPN had 1.45 million and TNT had 1.37 million.
NBC’s “Nightly News” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 8 million viewers. ABC’s “World News Tonight” was second with 7.9 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 6.6 million viewers.
Below are primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Aug. 29-Sept. 4. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.
1. “America’s Got Talent” (Tuesday), NBC, 12.28 million.
2. College Football: Notre Dame at Texas, ABC, 10.95 million.
3. “America’s Got Talent” (Wednesday, 9 p.m.), NBC, 10.5 million.
4. College Football: USC at Alabama, ABC, 7.94 million.
5. “NCIS,” CBS, 7.46 million.
6. “Better Late Than Never,” NBC, 7.33 million.
7. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 7.32 million.
8. “American Ninja Warrior,” NBC, 7.01 million.
9. “America’s Got Talent” (Wednesday, 8 p.m.), NBC, 6.46 million.
10. “Big Brother” (Wednesday), NBC, 6.292 million.
11. “College Football Pregame” (Saturday), ABC, 6.29 million.
12. “Bachelor in Paradise (Monday),” ABC, 5.46 million.
13. “Night Shift,” NBC, 5.43 million.
14. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 5.42 million.
15. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 5.27 million.
16. “Hannity” (Wednesday), Fox News, 5.24 million.
17. “Hawaii Five-0,” CBS, 5.17 million.
18. “Big Brother” (Sunday), CBS, 5.15 million.
19. “Bachelor in Paradise” (Tuesday), ABC, 5.04 million.
20. “Big Brother” (Thursday), CBS, 4.97 million.
Category: News