The United States’ opening game in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup was the most-watched program in the latest weekly prime-time ratings, with a combined 6.44 million viewers for its English- and Spanish- language broadcasts.
Fox’s English-language coverage of the U.S.’ 3-0 victory over Vietnam on Friday averaged 5.263 million viewers, the second-most watched group stage telecast on U.S. English-language television, behind the June 16, 2019, game between the U.S. and Chile which averaged 5.337 million on Fox, according to live-plus-same-day figures released Tuesday by Nielsen.
Telemundo’s Spanish-language coverage averaged 810,000.
The only other prime-time program between July 17 and Sunday to average more than 5 million viewers was NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” which averaged 5.63 million viewers, the second-lowest of this summer’s seven episodes, ahead only of the July 11 edition which averaged 5.615 million viewers opposite Fox’s coverage of Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game.
Each of the seven “America’s Got Talent” episodes this summer have been its week’s most-watched non-sports prime-time program.
CBS finished first in the network race for the fifth consecutive week, averaging 2.52 million viewers. It had three of the week’s six most-watched programs — “60 Minutes,” third for the week averaging 4.972 million viewers, “FBI,” fifth averaging 3.612 million, and “The Price is Right at Night,” sixth averaging 3.556 million.
ABC averaged 2.47 million viewers to finish second. Its most-watched program was three-hour country music special “CMA Fest,” fourth for the week averaging 3.649 million viewers.
NBC finished third among the major broadcast networks for the third consecutive week following back-to-back second-place finishes, averaging 2.19 million viewers.
CBS, NBC and ABC all aired 22 hours of prime-time programming.
Fox averaged 1.74 million viewers for its 17 hours of prime-time programming. Its most-watched program outside of its FIFA Women’s World Cup programming was its two “Baseball Night in America” regional telecasts Saturday which averaged 1.934 million viewers, 58th among the week’s prime-time broadcast and cable programs.
The CW averaged 300,000 viewers for its 14 hours of programming. Its most-watched program for the second time in the two weeks it has aired was the historical drama about Jesus, “The Chosen” which averaged 454,000 viewers, 168th among broadcast programs, one spot ahead of a 1966 episode of “Batman” that aired on MeTV at 10:30 p.m. Saturday and averaged 453,000. Their overall ranks were not available.
The CW had the week’s lone premiere on the five broadcast networks, “Fantastic Friends,” which it bills as “part adventure-travel series, part magic-infused challenge show and part a celebration of friendship.” It averaged 161,000 viewers, tied for 319th among broadcast programs with a rerun of “That ’70s Show” on Laff and “Storage Wars” on Defy TV. Their overall ranks were not available.
The 20 most-watched prime-time programs consisted of the U.S.-Vietnam 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup game on Fox and Telemundo; the NBC alternative series “America’s Got Talent” and “American Ninja Warrior”; CBS’ “60 Minutes”; ABC’s three-hour country music special, “CMA Fest”; reruns of seven episodes of CBS scripted series; reruns of the “The Price is Right at Night” and “Let’s Make a Deal Primetime” on CBS; five episodes of ABC alternative series; and the July 18 edition of the Fox News Channel political talk show “Hannity,” which served as a “town hall” for former President Donald Trump and was the most-watched cable television program, averaging 2.847 million viewers, 18th overall.
Fox News Channel’s viewership in the first week of its new prime-time lineup was up 25.8% to 1.823 million viewers from 1.449 million, making it the most-watched cable network for the fourth consecutive week and fifth time in six weeks. It was first among cable news networks for the sixth consecutive week and 126th time in 127 weeks.
MSNBC rose one spot to second, averaging 1.168 million viewers, a 2.5% increase from its 1.139 million average the previous week. Hallmark Channel rose one spot to third, averaging 747,000, increasing 2.2% from its 731,000- average the previous week.
CNN was third among cable news networks and 12th overall, averaging 522,000 viewers, a 4% increase from its 502,000-average the previous week.
One factor in the increased cable news viewership was that those networks did not have to compete for viewers with Fox’s coverage of Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game and ESPN’s coverage of the Home Run Derby, traditionally among the most-watched prime-time sporting events between the end of the NBA Finals and start of the college football season.
The cable prime-time top 20 consisted of 14 Fox News Channel weeknight political talk shows — five broadcasts each of “Hannity” and “Jesse Watters Primetime” and four of “Gutfeld!”; three MSNBC political talk shows — “The Rachel Maddow Show” and “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” which followed it July 17 and last Wednesday’s edition of “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” ; two hourlong segments of the USA Network professional wrestling program “WWE Raw”; and the 8 p.m. Sunday edition of the western “1883: A Yellowstone Origin Story” on Paramount Network.
Netflix’s most-watched title for the second consecutive week was “King The Land,” with viewers spending 65.1 million hours watching the Korean drama, 25.7% more than the 51.8 million hours watched the previous week.
“Bird Box Barcelona” was Netflix’s most-watched film, with viewers spending 35.5 million hours watching the Spanish post-apocalyptic horror thriller in its first full week of release, 16.4% more than the 30.5 million hours watched the previous week when it was available for three days.
The most-watched Spanish-language program was the Premios Juventud awards on Univision, which averaged 1.968 million viewers, 51st for the week.
Univision was the most-watched Spanish-language network for the 50th consecutive week and 188th time in 190 weeks, averaging 1.16 million viewers. Telemundo was second, averaging 690,000 viewers, followed by UniMas (250,000) and Estrella TV (90,000).
ABC’s “World News Tonight with David Muir” was the most-watched nightly newscast for the 242nd time in 243 weeks, averaging 7.459 million viewers. “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” was second, averaging 5.81 million viewers. The “CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell” was third, averaging 4.42 million viewers.
The week’s 10 most-watched prime-time programs were the U.S.-Vietnam 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup game on Fox and Telemundo; NBC’s “America’s Got Talent”; CBS’ “60 Minutes”; ABC’s three-hour country music special “CMA Fest”; reruns of “FBI” and “The Price is Right at Night” on CBS; a rerun of “America’s Funniest Home Videos” on ABC; a rerun of CBS’ “Young Sheldon”; the ABC game show “Generation Gap”; and NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior.”
