Fox Wins Nielsen's 52-Week Season in Demo Ratings - but CBS Repeats With Total Viewers

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Fox Wins Nielsen’s 52-Week Season in Demo Ratings – but CBS Repeats With Total Viewers

by Tony Maglio and Reid Nakamura | September 17, 2020 @ 2:05 PM

“Masked Singer” and Super Bowl LIV carry Fox across the goal line among adults 18-49

It is Fox’s turn to raise the (Lombardi?) trophy, as the youngest-skewing of the so-called “Big 4” broadcast networks has won the 52-week September-to-September season in primetime TV ratings among adults 18-49, which is the most heavily coveted age-range for advertisers.

Here’s how the September 13, 2019 through September 22, 2020 “season” panned out in primetime’s key-demo ratings, according to Nielsen. Fox, buoyed by Super Bowl LIV and the success of “The Masked Singer,” claimed the top spot over NBC, CBS and ABC.

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1. Fox: 1.3 rating
2. NBC: 1.1 rating
3. CBS and ABC (tied): 0.9 rating(s)

Those numbers, as well as the below viewership statistics, come from Nielsen’s “most current” ratings data set, which includes one week of delayed viewing for the vast majority of these 52 weeks.

While Nielsen has not yet produced the past few weeks of DVR viewing (and technically we still have like nine days left in the 52-week season), we’ve got more than a large enough sample size to call a winner.

Also Read: Ratings: Virtual ACM Awards on CBS Hit All-Time Lows in Key Demo and Viewers

While CBS settled for a third-place tie in the key demo for primetime, the appropriately self-nicknamed “America’s Most-Watched Network” repeated its long dominance in total viewers. In fact, network was tops in overall viewership in all three day parts — primetime, daytime and late night — winning what it calls the “ratings trifecta” for the second year in a row.

In primetime, CBS averaged 6.32 million viewers, topping second-place finisher NBC by more than 700,000 viewers. The famously older-skewing network has secured it’s spot as the most-watched network for the 11th time in 12 years. Here’s how the rest of the rankings break down:

1. CBS: 6.32 million
2. NBC 5.59 million
3. Fox 4.81 million
4. ABC 4.65 million

In late night, CBS’ “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” continued its four-year winning streak, beating NBC’s “The Tonight Show” by 48,000 viewers in the demo and 1.52 million viewers overall. Combined with James Corden’s “Late Late Show,” CBS’s total late-night viewership (2.30 million viewers) topped that of both NBC (1.62 million) and ABC (1.68 million).

Similarly, CBS’s daytime offerings beat its closest competitor ABC’s by a total of 1.25 million viewers (3.46 million vs. 2.21 million).

18 New Summer TV Shows Ranked by Premiere Viewers, From 'Tough as Nails' to 'United We Fall' (Photos)

With all due respect to "America's Got Talent," summer is not exactly the time when Nielsen ratings threaten to fall off the charts -- at least, not the top of the charts. And when it comes to new series, a summer slot isn't generally a vote of confidence from the network.

Due to coronavirus-forced production shutdowns, Summer 2020 has been an especially soft season. Click through our gallery to see how 18 freshman broadcast television shows -- some acquisitions -- fared in total viewers for their premieres this summer.

Also Read: 2020-2021 TV Season: Every Broadcast Show Canceled, Renewed and Ordered – So Far
ABC/Fox/CBS/The CW
Rank: 18 Show: "Taskmaster"* Net: The CW Total Viewers: 212,000

*Network debut of U.K. series
The CW
Rank: 17 Show: "Being Reuben"* Net: The CW Total Viewers: 242,000 *Network debut of U.K. series
The CW
Rank: 16 Show: "Fridge Wars"* Net: The CW Total Viewers: 398,000

*Network debut of Canadian series
The CW
Rank: 15 Show: "Tell Me a Story"* Net: The CW Total Viewers: 434,000

*Network debut of CBS All Access series
CBS All Access
Rank: 14 Show: "Killer Camp"* Net: The CW Total Viewers: 483,000

*Network debut of U.K. series
The CW
Rank: 13 Show: "Dead Pixels"* Net: The CW Total Viewers: 506,000

*Network debut of U.K. series
The CW
Rank: 12 Show: "Coroner"* Net: The CW Total Viewers: 715,000

*Network debut of Canadian series
The CW
Rank: 11 Show: "Labor of Love" Net: Fox Total Viewers: 891,000

Also Read: How ‘Labor of Love’ Producers Found Kristy Katzmann Her Perfect Man/Sperm Donor
Fox
Rank: 10 Show: "DC's Stargirl"* Net: The CW Total Viewers: 1.224 million *Network debut of DC Universe series

Also Read: The CW Shuffles ‘Stargirl’ Debut, ‘In the Dark’ Return to Fill Scheduling Holes Due to Production Shutdown
The CW
Rank: 9 Show: "Celebrity Watch Party" Net: Fox Total Viewers: 1.785 million
Fox
Rank: 8 Show: "The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons - Ever!" Net: ABC Total Viewers: 2.412 million
ABC
Rank: 7 Show: "Cannonball"* Net: NBC Total Viewers: 2.655

*Network debut of USA Network series
NBC
Rank: 6 Show: "The Genetic Detective" Net: ABC Total Viewers: 3.264 million
ABC
Rank: 5 Show: "Tough as Nails" Net: CBS Total Viewers: 4.096 million
CBS
Rank: 4 Show: "Don't" Net: ABC Total Viewers: 4.178 million
ABC
Rank: 3 Show: "United We Fall" Net: ABC Total Viewers: 4.235 million
ABC
Rank: 2 Show: "Ultimate Tag" Net: Fox Total Viewers: 4.351 million
Fox
Rank: 1 Show: "Game On!" Net: CBS Total Viewers: 4.437 million
CBS

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Nielsen sheets cooled off as the months warmed up

With all due respect to "America's Got Talent," summer is not exactly the time when Nielsen ratings threaten to fall off the charts -- at least, not the top of the charts. And when it comes to new series, a summer slot isn't generally a vote of confidence from the network.

Due to coronavirus-forced production shutdowns, Summer 2020 has been an especially soft season. Click through our gallery to see how 18 freshman broadcast television shows -- some acquisitions -- fared in total viewers for their premieres this summer.

Also Read: 2020-2021 TV Season: Every Broadcast Show Canceled, Renewed and Ordered – So Far

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