Prime-time viewership of MSNBC increased 29.4% while CNN’s rose 33.8% in the latest weekly ratings coinciding with the indictment of former President Donald Trump on charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot and attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss, but both again trailed Fox News Channel.
MSNBC averaged 1.517 million viewers for its prime-time programming between July 31 and Sunday to finish second among cable networks for the third consecutive week, a week after averaging 1.172 million, according to live-plus- same-day figures released Tuesday by Nielsen.
CNN rose six spots to fifth, averaging 705,000 viewers after averaging 527,000 viewers the previous week.
Fox News Channel was the most-watched cable network for the sixth consecutive week and seventh time in eight weeks, averaging 1.827 million viewers, 1.6% less than the 1.857 million viewers it averaged the previous week. It was first among cable news networks for the eighth consecutive week and 128th time in 129 weeks.
HGTV was third, averaging 770,000, and Hallmark Channel fourth, averaging 728,000.
The week’s most-watched prime-time cable program was the Aug. 1 edition of the MSNBC political talk show “All In with Chris Hayes” which averaged 2.861 million viewers the day Trump was indicted, 18th overall.
The cable prime-time top 20 consisted of 13 Fox News Channel weeknight political talk shows — five broadcasts of “Jesse Watters Primetime” and four each of “Hannity” and “Gutfeld!”; and seven MSNBC political talk shows — four editions of “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell”; the July 31 edition of “The Rachel Maddow Show”; and the Aug. 1 editions of “All In with Chris Hayes” and “Alex Wagner Tonight,” which followed it.
The most-watched prime-time program was NBC’s coverage of Thursday’s NFL Hall of Fame Game, which averaged 5.978 million viewers for the Cleveland Browns’ 21-16 victory over the New York Jets.
Viewership was up 9% from the 5.483-million average for last year’s weather-delayed game, a 27-11 victory by the Las Vegas Raiders over the Jacksonville Jaguars in a game the Raiders led 20-0 at halftime.
Three of the week’s four prime-time programs that topped 5 million viewers were related to the Hall of Fame Game. The 12-minute pre-kickoff show averaged 5.515 million viewers, third for the week, while a 13-minute interruption to the game after several banks of lights went dark at end of the third quarter with the Jets leading 16-14 averaged 5.27 million, fourth for the week.
NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” was the other program to top 5 million, averaging 5.648 million viewers, second for the week.
Each of the summer’s nine original episodes of “America’s Got Talent” has been the week’s most-watched entertainment program.
The Hall of Fame Game enabled NBC to end CBS’ six-week streak of first- place finishes in the network race, averaging 2.74 million viewers.
CBS was second, averaging 2.5 million, while ABC dropped to third after back-to-back second-place finishes and three in four weeks, averaging 2.08 million.
CBS’ most-watched program was “60 Minutes,” which finished fifth, averaging 4.992 million for an edition with three segments that aired previously and were updated for Sunday’s broadcast.
ABC’s most-watched program was “Celebrity Family Feud,” which averaged 3.547 million viewers to finish sixth.
CBS, NBC and ABC all aired 22 hours of prime-time programming.
Fox averaged 1.27 million viewers for its 16 hours, 24 minutes of prime-time programming. Its most-watched program was the professional wrestling program “WWE’s Friday Night Smackdown,” 41st for the week, averaging 2.244 million viewers.
The CW averaged 280,000 viewers for its 14 hours of programming.
Its most-watched program was the Canadian comedy “Son of a Critch” which averaged 422,000 viewers, tying for 178th among broadcast programs with the rerun of the 1965-71 CBS rural comedy “Green Acres,” which aired at 9:30 p.m. Friday on MeTV. Its overall rank was not available.
The CW aired both of the premieres on the five major English-language broadcast networks. The Canadian comedy “Run the Burbs,” averaged 310,000 viewers to finish 201st among broadcast programs.
The cooking show “Recipe for Disaster” averaged 190,000 viewers to tie for 268th with the rerun of the 2002-09 USA Network mystery comedy-drama “Monk,” which aired at 8 p.m. Sunday on Cozi TV.
Their overall ranks were not available.
The 20 most-watched prime-time programs consisted of NBC’s coverage of the NFL Hall of Fame Game, its 12-minute pre-kickoff show and 13-minute interruption to the game; the NBC alternative series “America’s Got Talent” and “American Ninja Warrior”; “60 Minutes”; five episodes of ABC alternative series; two episodes of the CBS alternative series “Big Brother”; reruns of six episodes of CBS scripted series; and the Aug. 1 edition of the MSNBC political talk show “All In with Chris Hayes.”
Netflix’s most-watched title was the second season of its legal drama “The Lincoln Lawyer,” with viewers spending 55.2 million hours watching the 10 episodes, including the second set of five that were available for four days.
“Hidden Strike” was Netflix’s most-watched film for the second consecutive week, with viewers watching the Jackie Chan-starring action film for 40.5 million hours, 7.1% more than the 37.8 million hours the previous week when it was available for five days.
The most-watched Spanish-language program was the Wednesday episode of the Univision telenovela “Tierra de Esperanza,” which averaged 1.528 million viewers, 55th among broadcast programs. Its overall rank was not available.
Univision was the most-watched Spanish-language network for the 52nd consecutive week and 190th time in 192 weeks, averaging 1.06 million viewers. Telemundo was second, averaging 590,000 viewers, followed by UniMas (310,000) and Estrella TV (60,000).
ABC’s “World News Tonight with David Muir” was the most-watched nightly newscast for the 244th time in 245 weeks, averaging 7.328 million viewers. “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” was second, averaging 5.791 million viewers.
The “CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell” was third, averaging 4.229 million viewers.
The week’s 10 most-watched prime-time programs were NBC’s coverage of the NFL Hall of Fame Game; NBC’s “America’s Got Talent”; the 12-minute NFL Hall of Fame Game pre-kickoff show and 13-minute interruption to the game; CBS’ “60 Minutes”; ABC’s “Celebrity Family Feud”; the Wednesday edition of CBS’ “Big Brother”; a rerun of “America’s Funniest Home Videos” on ABC; the Sunday edition of “Big Brother”; and NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior.”
