You know by now that the GOP debate on Fox News was the most-watched cable news program ever, the most-watched non-sports cable program ever, and the most-watched program on all of TV last week. But as we dug into the numbers a little more, we found out that five of other Top 10 shows on TV last week (Aug. 3-9) were news programs, four of them network newscasts on NBC and ABC which air out of prime time, when fewer available viewers are home. And if we continued the list to the top 15 you’d see more episodes of Nightly News and World News Tonight.
Yes, it’s the dog days of summer with few new shows. And a lot of TV viewing is happening on streaming services, or not at all. Still, the fact that 4 of the top 10 shows on TV last week were evening newscasts (in addition to a repeat of 60 Minutes) certainly bodes well for network newsers and puts the “death of the evening newscast” debate to rest, for now.
| Program | Day | Total Viewers | A25-54 Demo |
|---|---|---|---|
| GOP Debate (FNC) | Thursday | 23,997,000 | 7,939,000 |
| NFL Pre-season Game (NBC) | Sunday | 10,983,000 | 4,972,000 |
| Kelly File (FNC) | Thursday | 10,932,000 | 3,338,000 |
| America’s Got Talent (NBC) | Tuesday | 10,209,000 | 3,490,000 |
| NFL Pre-game (NBC) | Sunday | 8,980,000 | 3,666,000 |
| 60 Minutes (CBS) | Sunday | 8,720,000 | 1,797,000 |
| Nightly News (NBC) | Tuesday | 8,315,000 | 2,306,000 |
| Nightly News (NBC) | Monday | 8,213,000 | 1,997,000 |
| Nightly News (NBC) | Thursday | 8,152,000 | 1,985,000 |
| World News Tonight (ABC) | Monday | 7,923,000 | 1,964,000 |