ESPN Rolls to Weekly Ratings Win
ESPN once again topped the weekly ratings list, led by its powerhouse Monday Night Football franchise.
The sports network’s 2.8 million viewers – bolstered by its MNF Dallas-Washington telecast that drew a cable best 14.1 million viewers -- bested ABC Family’s holiday programming-infused 2.2 million viewer average and Fox News’ 2.0 million viewers to top all cable networks during the week of Dec. 7 to Dec. 13, according to Nielsen.
Discovery Channel and Hallmark Channel finished fourth for the week tied with 1.9 million viewers, while USA Network (1.7 million), NFL Network (1.2 million); TBS (1.4 million) HGTV (1.3 million) and Disney Channel rounded out the top 10 most watched networks for the week.
Fox News was the most watched cable network on a 24-hour basis during the week, while among the 19-49 demo ESPN and Adult Swim were the top choice in primetime and on a total day basis respectively.
Most Watched Cable Shows During The Week Of Dec. 7 to Dec. 13
DateShowNetworkTotal Viewers
12/7 Monday Night Football – Dallas-Wash. ESPN 14.1 million
12/10 Thurs. Night Football – Minn-Ariz. NFL Network 8.7 million
12/7 SportsCenter ESPN 4.2 million
12/9 Alaskan Bush People Discovery 3.7 million
12/11 Gold Rush Discovery 3.7 million
12/9 The O’Reilly Factor Fox News 3.7 million
12/12 On The 12th Day Of Christmas (movie) Hallmark 3.5 million
12/7 The O’Reilly Factor Fox News 3.4 million
12/13 Family For Christmas (movie) Hallmark 3.3 million
12/8 The O’Reilly Factor Fox News 3.2 million
Source: Nielsen