or


[09/27/20 - 08:17 AM]
Saturday's Broadcast Ratings: College Football Lifts ABC to Top Honors
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 seven ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks last night (9/26/20):

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

ABC (2.629 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 0.7, #1) was the network to beat on Saturday with another installment of "Saturday Night Football" (2.629 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 0.7, #1).

Second place went to NBC (2.166 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.5, #2) with its coverage of the "Stanley Cup Finals: Dallas at Tampa Bay" (2.166 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.5, #2).

Next up was CBS (2.242 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 0.3, #3) and its lineup of "Bull" (2.053 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T3), "SWAT" (1.790 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T3) and "48 Hours" (2.882 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T3).

And finally, FOX (1.318 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.2, #4) closed out the night with its regular season finale of "MLB on FOX" (1.318 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 0.2, #6).

In late-night metered market ratings (via NBC's press release):

TBA


Here are the highlights of the nine ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks one year ago (9/28/19):

ABC (5.544 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 1.5, #1) continued its reign on Saturday with its weekly installment of "Saturday Night College Football" (5.544 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 1.5, #1).

The silver then went to NBC (2.509 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.5, #2) with its mix of "The Voice" (2.156 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T4), "Dateline Saturday Night Mystery" (3.151 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.6, #2) and "SNL Vintage" (2.220 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 0.5, #3).

Next up was FOX (1.952 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.4, #3) and a special edition of "MLB on FOX" (1.952 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T4).

And finally, CBS (2.593 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 0.3, #4) closed out the night with encores of "Bob (Hearts) Abishola" (2.343 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T4), "Carol's Second Act" (2.166 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T8) and "All Rise" (2.235 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T8) plus a new "48 Hours" (3.288 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T4).

In late-night metered market ratings (via NBC's press release):

· The 45th season premiere of "Saturday Night Live," hosted by Woody Harrelson and featuring musical guest Billie Eilish, has averaged a 4.1 rating, 10 share in "live plus same day" household results from the 56 local markets metered by Nielsen Media Research and a 1.6/10 in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters.

· The Sept. 28 edition maintains 100% of the show's season finale rating in the metered markets (4.1 vs. 4.1 on May 18), while growing +7% in 18-49 in the local people meters (1.6 vs. 1.5), to top three of the show's final four telecasts of last season.

· Versus all primetime entertainment programming so far on the Big 4 networks during Premiere Week, "Saturday Night Live" is tied for #6 in adults 18-49 in the local people meters, ranking behind only "The Masked Singer" (3.1), "This Is Us" (2.2), "9-1-1" (1.9), Monday's "The Voice" (1.7) and "Grey's Anatomy" (1.7).

· The year-ago season premiere of "Saturday Night Live" averaged a 4.8 in metered-market households and a 2.3 in 18-49.

Source: Nielsen Media Research





  [january 2026]  
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
[01/23/26 - 12:44 PM]
"20/20" Improves on the Previous Week in Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49, Hitting an 8-Week High in the Key Adult News Demo
"20/20" ranked No. 1 in its two-hour time period in Adults 25-54.

[01/23/26 - 12:28 PM]
ABC News' "Nightline" Ranks No. 1 in Total Viewers
"Nightline" posted double-digit increases week to week in Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49.

[01/23/26 - 10:31 AM]
"College GameDay Built by The Home Depot" Closes Out Historic Season with 2.6 Million Viewers Highlighting Hurricanes and Hoosiers
The six postseason GameDay shows delivered 2.4 million average viewers, up 30 percent year-over-year.

[01/23/26 - 07:37 AM]
Historic Back-to-Back Stretch: ESPN Delivers Its No. 1 and No. 8 Most-Watched Events Ever on Consecutive Days
Across Sunday and Monday, fans consumed 18.7 billion total minutes across ESPN, ABC and ESPN2 - a 28% increase from last season's Divisional Round game and Championship Monday on the same networks.

[01/22/26 - 03:39 PM]
Special Premiere of "The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins" Is the Season's Most-Watched Comedy Episode
The series drew 5.8 million viewers and a 1.4 rating in the 18-49 demo in its special premiere that aired Sunday, January 18.

[01/22/26 - 02:05 PM]
ESPN's MegaCast of the College Football Playoff National Championship Presented by AT&T Delivers 30.1 Million Viewers - The Most-Viewed College Football Game in 11 Years
The game scored 30.1 million viewers, the most-watched college football game since the inaugural CFP National Championship (33.9 million viewers, Oregon/Ohio State, 2014-15) and the second most-watched National Championship of the CFP era.

[01/22/26 - 12:48 PM]
ABC Wednesday Comedies Score with Stellar Midseason Premieres
"Shifting Gears" and "Abbott Elementary" are among top scripted shows of the week in adults 18-49.

[01/22/26 - 07:58 AM]
NBC Sports Delivers Its Most Watched NFL Divisional Playoff Game on Record as Rams-Bears Thriller Averages 45.4 Million Viewers on NBC & Peacock
The audience for Rams-Bears - which increased in every quarter hour from 8:15 p.m. ET until the game-winning score - peaked in the game's closing minutes, with an average of 52.6 million viewers from 9:45-10 pm ET.

[01/21/26 - 10:58 AM]
ABC's Tuesday Dramas Soar with Midseason Premieres
In fact, "High Potential" and "Will Trent" were the top two scripted programs of the week among Total Viewers.

[01/20/26 - 01:01 PM]
Netflix: What We Watched the Second Half of 2025
"KPop Demon Hunters" took the world by storm, breaking records as our most-watched title over a six-month period with 482M views.

[01/20/26 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10: Week of January 12 - "The Rip" Confiscates the No. 1 Spot in This Week's Top 10
Mistrust was the theme of the week, as viewers put the murder-mystery thriller "His & Hers" at No. 1 on the English TV list with 29.5 million views.

[01/16/26 - 01:08 PM]
"20/20" Is the Most-Watched Program Across Broadcast and Cable on Friday Night - Scoring Largest Viewership in Over 7 Months
For the second week in a row, "20/20" posted Total Viewers increases versus the previous week and the corresponding year-ago telecast.

[01/15/26 - 01:38 PM]
"Live with Kelly and Mark" Christmas Week Shoots to a Season High Among Total Viewers - Scoring Show's Best Performance in 10 Months
"Live" has now ranked as the No. 1 talk show in syndication for 152 consecutive weeks across all key measures.

[01/13/26 - 03:02 PM]
2025-26 College Football Playoff Semifinals Averaging 14.9 Million Viewers, On Par with 2024-25 Season
The Peach Bowl (Oregon vs. Indiana) drew 18 million viewers on average, while the Fiesta Bowl (Miami vs. Ole Miss) scored 15.8 million viewers.

[01/13/26 - 02:30 PM]
FOX Sports Holds Winning Hand Leading All Networks in Viewership on Wild Card Weekend
41 million viewers watched FOX Sports' presentation of Sunday's NFC Wild Card Round showdown featuring the San Francisco 49ers' win over the Philadelphia Eagles.