The West Coast headquarters of Comcast and NBC Universal at 10 Universal City Plaza in Universal City, California. (Photo by Matthew Keys for The Desk)
The West Coast headquarters of Comcast and NBC Universal at 10 Universal City Plaza in Universal City, California. (Photo by Matthew Keys for The Desk)
header square logo for header 2
Key Points
header peaklight logo
NBC was boosted by high interest in its “Sunday Night Football” game with Aaron Rodgers and the return of NBA games on the network for the first time in two decades.
ESPN had the highest-rated single program on cable with its “Monday Night Football” game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Detroit Lions.
Fox News had seven of the top 10 highest-rated programs during the week, boosted by interest in “The Five” and “Jesse Watters Primetime.”
The return of live National Basketball Association (NBA) games coupled with highly-rated Sunday evening football programming helped NBC secure its place as the top television network during the third week of October, according to Nielsen data reviewed by The Desk.
NBC attracted more than 6.4 million viewers during the measurement period, which ran from Monday, October 20 to Sunday, October 26, the Nielsen data showed. The network’s average viewership was boosted by high interest in Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers taking on his old team, the Green Bay Packers, during “Sunday Night Football,” which grabbed more than 23 million viewers and solidified itself as the most-watched single event during the week.
The NBA tip-off event between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Houston Rockets further influenced NBC’s ratings for the week, attracting 4.89 million viewers on broadcast and cable TV. Viewership data provided by NBC Sports last week said the game drew an average audience of 5.9 million viewers when streaming platform Peacock is factored in. A second-window game between the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Lakers drew 4 million viewers to NBC, a number that increased to 5.1 million with Peacock included.
The two NBA games marked the first time that NBC aired live events from the league since 2002, when it relinquished the rights to regular-season games, which moved to TNT Sports. NBC is one of three national broadcast partners for the NBA as part of the league’s new comprehensive TV package; the other two national rights holders are Disney’s ESPN and Amazon’s streaming service Prime Video.
The top-rated program across all broadcast TV were the late-window National Football League (NFL) games aired on CBS, which started around 4:25 p.m. Eastern Time and involved different teams. Those games attracted a collective audience of more than 25 million viewers to the network, Nielsen said.
On cable, the Fox News Channel ranked as the most-viewed during the week, with an average viewership of 2.27 million. Seven of the top 10 shows on cable aired on the network, with episodes of “The Five” and “Jesse Watters Primetime” boosting the average weekly viewership.
ESPN’s twin “Monday Night Football” games ranked as the top programming on cable, with its first window match-up between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Detroit Lions drawing 8.4 million viewers to the network. The second-window game between the Houston Texas and the Seattle Seahawks attracted 6.26 million viewers.
header square logo for header 2
Top-Rated Broadcast TV Programs
header square logo for header 2
Top-Rated Cable TV Programs
header square logo for header 2
Top TV Networks (Broadcast/Cable)
header square logo for header 2
More Stories