NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� NBC opened the new television season with a dominant week against its rivals, and it wasn't just football that was responsible.
The network's Sunday night football franchise was by far last week's most-watched prime time program, as it traditionally is each fall. But NBC said it was the first time it won television's fall premiere week in 20 years when only entertainment programming 鈥� and not sports 鈥� is taken into account.
NBC's Wednesday night slate of 鈥淐hicago鈥� dramas is potent, particularly for younger viewers. The network also touted its new series 鈥淥rdinary Joe,鈥� which more than doubled its premiere night audience when delayed and digital viewing is taken into account.
CBS' long-running favorite 鈥淣CIS鈥� was the week's most popular scripted series, the Nielsen company said.
With Broadway shows just opening up again after most were dark for more than a year because of COVID-19, Sunday night's Tony Awards tanked in the ratings with just 2.75 million viewers. The four-hour show was split between CBS and Viacom streaming service Paramount+.
Total prime-time viewership on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox was up 16% over the same week last year, which would ordinarily be cause for celebration. Yet because COVID-19 shut down television production for much of last year, there was little fresh programming for the traditional broadcast premiere week, and this year things were back to normal.
NBC averaged 6.6 million viewers for the week in prime time, compared to second-place CBS' 4.4 million average. Fox had 3.4 million, ABC had 3 million, Univision had 1.5 million, Telemundo had 1.1 million and Ion Television had 920,000.
ESPN led the cable networks with a prime-time average of 2.66 million. Fox News Channel had 2.36 million, MSNBC had 1.3 million, HGTV had 958,000 and TLC had 837,000.
ABC's 鈥淲orld News Tonight鈥� led the evening news ratings race with an average of 8 million viewers. NBC's 鈥淣ightly News鈥� had 6.7 million and the 鈥淐BS Evening News鈥� had 4.8 million.
For the week of Sept. 20-26, the top 20 prime-time shows, their networks and viewerships:
1. NFL Football: Green Bay at San Francisco, NBC, 19.69 million.
2. 鈥淣FL Pregame鈥� (Sunday), NBC, 13.85 million.
3. NFL Football: Detroit at Green Bay, ESPN, 11.9 million.
4. 鈥淭he OT,鈥� Fox, 10.02 million.
5. 鈥淔ootball Night in America, Part 3,鈥� NBC, 9.48 million.
6. 鈥淣CIS,鈥� CBS, 8.45 million.
7. NFL Football: Carolina at Houston, NFL Network, 7.39 million.
8. 鈥淭he Voice鈥� (Tuesday), NBC, 7.35 million.
9. 鈥淐hicago Fire,鈥� NBC, 7.28 million.
10. 鈥淭he Voice鈥� (Monday), NBC, 7.22 million.
11. 鈥�60 Minutes,鈥� CBS, 7.2 million.
12. 鈥淔BI,鈥� CBS, 7.124 million.
13. 鈥淔BI: Most Wanted,鈥� CBS, 7.119 million.
14. 鈥淐hicago Med,鈥� NBC, 6.81 million.
15. 鈥淣CIS: Hawai'i,鈥� CBS, 6.58 million.
16. 鈥淐hicago PD,鈥� NBC, 6.54 million.
17. 鈥淔BI: International,鈥� CBS, 6.43 million.
18. 鈥淪urvivor,鈥� CBS, 6.25 million.
19. 鈥淭he Sustainer,鈥� NFL Network, 5.98 million.
20. 鈥淟aw & Order: SVU,鈥� NBC, 5.58 million.
David Bauder, The Associated Press
