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    Nielsen Week In Review: Will “The Masked Singer” Be Able To Leverage Big Game Advantage? 

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments2878 Views
    This image released by Fox shows host Nick Cannon, left, with Lil Wayne in the third season premiere of "The Masked Singer," which aired on Sunday after the Super Bowl. The special edition of the show, with Lil' Wayne as the mystery guest, had its biggest audience ever Sunday when 23.7 million people watched it, the Nielsen company said. (Greg Gayne/FOX via AP)

    By David Bauder, Media Writer

    NEW YORK (AP) --

    Fox will find out soon whether "The Masked Singer" benefits from the best time slot in television.

    A new episode of the game, usually Fox's most popular primetime program or close to it, airs on Wednesday. A special edition of the show, with Lil' Wayne as the mystery guest, had its biggest audience ever Sunday when 23.7 million people watched it, the Nielsen company said.

    That's because it aired after the Super Bowl, traditionally television's best-watched event by far, and a certain number of viewers don't turn off the TV after the game is over. If there's one thing that unites all primetime television producers, it's the fervent wish to be plugged into a network lineup on Super Sunday.

    Networks have used the time slots for high-profile launches of new series or, more commonly, to introduce an already popular show to an audience that might not otherwise know about it.

    The game between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers — not to mention an explosive halftime show featuring Jennifer Lopez and Shakira — was seen by an average of 99.9 million people. That was a slight increase over the 2019 game, ending a four-year run of declining viewership for the NFL's marquee event.

    The game lifted Fox to an average of 13.3 million viewers in primetime last week. CBS was second with 4 million viewers, NBC had 2.7 million, ABC had 2.6 million, ION Television had 1 million, Univision had 990,000, Telemundo had 720,000 and the CW had 500,000.

    Fox News Channel led all of the cable networks with an average of 2.84 million viewers in primetime, and had 38 of the 40 most-watched programs on cable TV last week. ESPN was second with an average of 2.66 million viewers, MSNBC had 1.79 million, Hallmark had 1.47 million and TLC had 1.22 million.

    ABC's "World News Tonight" led the evening newscasts with an average of 9.1 million viewers. NBC's "Nightly News" was second with 7.9 million and the "CBS Evening News" 5.9 million viewers.

    For the week of Jan. 27-Feb. 2, the top 20 shows, the networks and their viewerships:

    1. Super Bowl: Kansas City vs. San Francisco, Fox, 99.9 million.
    2. "Super Bowl Post-Game" (10:11 to 10:21 p.m. Eastern), Fox, 83.51 million.
    3. "Super Bowl Post-Game" (10:22 to 10:39 p.m.), Fox, 57.04 million.
    4. "The Masked Singer," Fox, 23.7 million.
    5. "NCIS," CBS, 12.13 million.
    6. "FBI," CBS, 9.27 million.
    7. "Young Sheldon," CBS, 8.65 million.
    8. "Hawaii Five-0," CBS, 7.56 million.
    9. "Blue Bloods," CBS, 7.53 million.
    10. "America's Got Talent Champions," 7.35 million.
    11. "Super Bowl's Greatest Commercials," CBS, 7.1 million.
    12. "Magnum P.I.," CBS, 7.05 million.
    13. "This Is Us," NBC, 6.44 million.
    14. "Station 19," ABC, 6.12 million.
    15. "FBI: Most Wanted," CBS, 6.11 million.
    16. "Mom," CBS, 6.09 million.
    17. "The Bachelor," ABC, 6.01 million.
    18. "Criminal Minds," CBS, 5.89 million.
    19. "Unicorn," CBS, 5.77 million.
    20. "The Good Doctor," ABC, 5.7 million.

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    Category:News
    Tags:NielsenSuper BowlThe Masked Singer



    Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni Go To New York In Required Effort To Avoid Trial

    Wednesday, February 11, 2026

    Actor Blake Lively and director Justin Baldoni came to a New York courthouse on Wednesday to see if her lawsuit alleging sexual harassment on the set of the 2024 romantic drama "It Ends With Us" could be settled before a May trial. The talks between lawyers went on over a six-hour period before Lively and Baldoni left the Manhattan federal courthouse separately and went straight to their waiting cars without saying anything. Lively looked stern as she walked out while Baldoni was smiling. Baldoni's attorney Bryan Freedman said in an email that the talks did not result in a settlement. Mandatory settlement talks are generally required before a civil case proceeds to trial. They are not held in public. Their acrimonious yearlong litigation has cast a wide net across the entertainment world, drawing into the headlines other actors, musicians and celebrities and raising questions about the power, influence and gender dynamics in Hollywood. Lively sued Baldoni and his hired crisis communications expert alleging harassment and a coordinated campaign to attack her reputation after she complained about his treatment of her on the movie set. Baldoni and his Wayfarer Studios production company countersued Lively and her husband, "Deadpool" actor Ryan Reynolds, accusing them of defamation and extortion. Judge Lewis J. Liman dismissed that suit last June. The trial, scheduled for May 18, was expected to be star-studded. Lively's legal team had indicated in court papers that people likely to have information about the case included singer Taylor Swift, model Gigi Hadid, actors Emily Blunt, Alexis Bledel, America Ferrera and Hugh Jackman, influencer Candace Owens, media personality Perez Hilton and designer Ashley Avignone. Read More

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