NFL Helps Fox Top 2nd Week Of TV Season; Nielsen Week In Review
Seattle Seahawks fans celebrate a win during an NFL game against the Los Angeles Rams, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2019, in Seattle. The Seahawks defeated the Rams 30-29. (Margaret Bowles via AP)
  • NEW YORK (AP)
  • --

Two weeks into the season, two different winners have been crowned in a tight battle for primetime supremacy among the television networks.

Fox took first place last week in the Nielsen company’s rankings, buoyed by its Thursday night NFL game between the L.A. Rams and Seattle. Late-running Sunday afternoon football also helped Fox.

With the ever-increasing number of people watching primetime programs on a delayed basis, it inflates the importance of live events like football in the weekly ranking. But Fox also had strong showings from “The Masked Singer” and its drama, “911,” with a popular tsunami story line.

NBC won the ratings race last week, and was a close second this week, Nielsen said.

Unlike Fox and NBC, former long-time champ CBS doesn’t have an NFL primetime game. The network’s “NCIS” was the week’s most popular scripted show, while “Young Sheldon” was the favorite comedy.

Fox averaged 6.7 million viewers for the week, followed by NBC’s 6.5 million, CBS at 6.2 million, ABC at 4.7 million, Univision with 1.3 million, ION Television had 1.2 million, Telemundo had 1.1 million and the CW had 790,000.

ESPN averaged 2.86 million viewers to be the most popular cable network for the week. Fox News Channel had 2.65 million, TBS had 2.51 million, MSNBC had 2.04 million and TLC had 1.07 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 8.2 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” was second with 7.4 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.2 million viewers.

Below are primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Sept. 30-Oct. 6. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.

1. NFL Football: Indianapolis at Kansas City, NBC, 18.13 million.
2. “NFL Postgame,” Fox, 17.49 million.
3. NFL Football: L.A. Rams at Seattle, Fox, 14.41 million.
4. “Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick,” NBC, 12.89 million.
5. “NCIS,” CBS, 12.52 million.
6. NFL Football: Cincinnati at Pittsburgh, ESPN, 10.81 million.
7. “FBI,” CBS, 9.47 million.
8. “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC, 9.04 million.
9. “The Voice” (Monday), NBC, 8.75 million.
10. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 8.62 million.
11. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 8.35 million.
12. “Chicago Med,” NBC, 7.68 million.
13. “Chicago Fire,” NBC, 7.65 million.
14. “911,” Fox, 7.48 million.
15. “This is Us,” NBC, 7.46 million.
16. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 7.44 million.
17. “Football Night in America,” NBC, 7.29 million.
18. “NFL Pregame,” Fox, 7.27 million
19. “The Masked Singer,” Fox, 6.99 million.
20. “NCIS: New Orleans,” CBS, 6.91 million.

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

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