Home Run Derby A Hit; Nielsen Week In Review
This July 8, 2019 file photo shows Pete Alonso, of the New York Mets, after winning the Major League Baseball Home Run Derby in Cleveland. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
  • NEW YORK (AP)
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Baseball’s All-Star game is fading as a midsummer television attraction, but the adjunct Home Run Derby is becoming popular in its own right.

The Nielsen company says a little more than 8 million people watched Tuesday’s All-Star game on Fox, enough to be the second-most popular thing on television after “America’s Got Talent” last week. The derby where sluggers flex their muscles a day before the game was televised on ESPN and reached 5.4 million viewers.

New York Mets rookie Pete Alonso won the Home Run Derby. The American League took the All-Star game.

The four major broadcast networks all struggled to find viewers during a quiet July week. CBS was in the unusual position of fourth place, although summer ratings don’t mean much to the networks.

NBC won the week in primetime, averaging 3.6 million viewers. ABC had 3.2 million, Fox had 3.1 million, CBS had 3 million, ION Television had 1.5 million, Telemundo had 1.2 million, Univision had 1.1 million and the CW had 660,000.

Fox News Channel was the week’s most popular cable network, averaging 2.28 million viewers in prime time. MSNBC had 1.54 million, ESPN had 1.47 million, HGTV had 1.27 million and TLC had 1.15 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 8 million viewers, NBC’s Nightly News” had 6.9 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.2 million.

Below are primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for July 8-14. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.

1. “America’s Got Talent,” NBC, 9.81 million.
2. MLB All-Star Game, Fox, 8.15 million.
3. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 6.35 million.
4. “The Bachelorette,” ABC, 6.05 million.
5. “Bring the Funny,” NBC, 5.97 million.
6. “Home Run Derby,” ESPN, 5.41 million.
7. “The $100,000 Pyramid,” ABC, 5.044 million.
8. “Celebrity Family Feud,” ABC, 5.041 million.
9. “American Ninja Warrior,” NBC, 4.5 million.
10. “Big Brother” (Sunday), CBS, 4.2 million.
11. “Big Brother” (Wednesday), CBS, 4.16 million.
12. “To Tell the Truth,” ABC, 4.058 million.
13. “Big Brother” (Thursday), CBS, 4.055 million.
14. “Holey Moley,” ABC, 3.96 million.
15. “ESPY Awards,” ABC, 3.87 million.
16. “The Code,” CBS, 3.85 million.
17. “Bull,” CBS, 3.84 million.
18. “Dateline NBC,” NBC, 3.76 million.
19. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 3.739 million.
20. “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” ABC, 3.738 million.

ABC and ESPN are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; CBS is a division of CBS Corp.; Fox is owned by 21st Century Fox; NBC is owned by NBC Universal.

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