Sunday TV Ratings 9/14/25: Emmys Rise to Multi-Year High, Doc Modest in Post-NFL Preview, The Great North Ends on Season High, WNBA Playoffs Open Steady with 2024 Cable Games [+ Analysis]

The 77th Primetime Emmy Awards posted a 1.28 rating on CBS, up more than 24% in the Adults 18-49 demographic from last year's show (1.03). On Fox, sophomore drama Doc (0.79) soared to a new series high for its season premiere, with the help of ample NFL inflation of course. In the 9 p.m. hour, The Great North (0.27/0.22) closed out its fifth season with a season high. NBC's Falcons v. Vikings NFL broadcast (4.67) was more than a full point below last week's game (5.80). ABC's broadcast of the movie Jungle Cruise (0.12) underwhelmed but tripled the CW's showing of The Notebook (0.04). Key: (P) = premiere. (R) = repeat. (F) = finale. 

Sunday TV Ratings 9/15/24: Emmys Rise from Previous Ceremony, Universal Basic Guys Slides without NFL Help, Elsbeth Hits Series High for Repeat [+ Analysis]

Ratings Analysis: The 76th Primetime Emmy Awards (1.03) performed reasonably well on ABC, improving on January's ceremony (0.87) by 18% in the Adults 18-49 demographic. Earlier in the night, On the Red Carpet: Live at the Emmys (0.32) served as a prelude to the main event. On Fox, the ratings strength of Universal Basic Guys (0.19, -0.99) evaporated overnight. Guys declined nearly 84% from last week's NFL-inflated premiere and lost to the repeat of The Simpsons (0.21) that led into it. Later in the evening, Bob's Burgers (0.21, -0.34) and The Great North (0.15/0.13) also dropped. On NBC, the Bears/Texans NFL game (4.97) was down four-tenths from last week's Rams/Lions match-up (5.41). On CBS, 60 Minutes (1.49) enjoyed a nice NFL Overrun boost (7.33) on season premiere night. However, the boost was all gone by the time a repeat of Elsbeth (0.39) aired, meaning that Big Brother (0.55, -0.04) was actually down from last week. The Chosen (0.02, 0.00) held steady on the CW. Key: (R) = repeat. (P) = premiere. (F) = finale. 

Monday TV Ratings 1/15/24: Emmys Drop to New Low, AGT Fantasy League Slips, NFL Dominates (UPDATED w/Analysis)

Ratings Analysis: The Fox broadcast of the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards (0.87) dealt with a 20% decline in the Adults 18-49 demographic, going about two-tenths lower than NBC's fall 2022 showing of the ceremony (1.09). The trend was a little worse in total viewership as this broadcast (4.46 million) dropped by nearly 25% from the 74th (5.92 million). On ABC, the Eagles v. Buccaneers NFL game (3.96 rating/18.79 million viewers) easily trumped the Emmys, showing that sports continue to be a big draw as award shows fade away. CBS re-ran NCIS (0.88/0.36/0.26) once more, but there was some NFL inflation to help the reruns out this time, enough so that the 8 p.m. one actually beat out the Emmys head-on. America's Got Talent: Fantasy League (0.31, -0.07) slipped on NBC but was still ahead of its premiere rating from two weeks ago. I Am MLK Jr. (0.04) was modest by CW standards. 

Finals Update: NFL: Eagles v. Buccaneers (+0.6), the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards (+0.2), and repeats of NCIS at 9 PM (+0.1) and 10 PM (+0.1) adjusted up. Monday Night Kickoff (-0.5) adjusted down.

Monday TV Ratings 9/12/22: Emmys Hit New Low, NFL Leads, Don’t Forget the Lyrics Rises for Finale (UPDATED)

Ratings Analysis: After being aided by the NFL last year, 'The Emmys' had to deal with football competition this time around, facing off against ABC's broadcast of the 'Broncos v. Seahawks' game (2.16) in the 8PM hour. Ultimately, NBC's telecast of the '74th Primetime Emmy Awards' (1.09) was about 50% lower than the NFL game on the alphabet network and just about 40% below last year's football-boosted ceremony (1.81) in the Adults 18-49 demographic. The harsh drop-off can clearly be attributed to the gala having a far weaker lead-in than it did in 2021. For a more apples-to-apples comparison, the 2020 'Emmys' posted a 1.3 rating, just two-tenths below this year's show. Despite the added competition, Fox series 'Don't Forget the Lyrics!' (0.32, +0.12) rebounded quite a bit for its season finale and led into a pilot encore of new drama 'Monarch' (0.19). CBS went with its usual rerun lineup, broadcasting middling encores of 'The Neighborhood' (0.31), 'Bob Hearts Abishola' (0.30), 'NCIS' (0.27), and 'NCIS: Hawai'i' (0.24). The CW had subpar reruns of 'Mysteries Decoded' (0.06) and 'Penn & Teller: Fool Us' (0.09).

Finals Update: 'NFL: Broncos v. Seahawks' (+0.6) and the '74th Primetime Emmy Awards' (+0.1) adjusted up.

Sunday TV Ratings 9/19/21: Emmys Rise from 2020 with Post-NFL Airing, To Tell The Truth Ends on a Low, Fantasy Island Finale Steady (UPDATED)

Preliminary Analysis: With major help from the 'NFL Overrun' (4.1), CBS's telecast of the '73rd Primetime Emmy Awards' (1.5) gained five-tenths when compared to 2020's preliminary rating (1.0). The Cedric the Entertainer-hosted gala barely retained more than a third of the football audience but any sort of upward trend is welcome when considering how far the 'Emmys' have fallen in recent years. Over on NBC, the 'Chiefs v. Ravens' NFL game (4.8) was seven-tenths above the preliminary 4.1 that last week's 'Bears v. Rams' game garnered. As it usually does, 'Football Night in America' (1.7/4.3) will likely adjust down heavily. Though they were largely lost in the shuffle, ABC used the evening to end its summer programming block. 'Celebrity Family Feud' (0.5) held flat for its finale, tying the 7pm 'AFV' rerun (0.5) in the process. 'The Chase' (0.3) and 'To Tell The Truth' (0.2) both lost a tenth for their respective closers, with 'Truth' in new low territory. Fox reaired their 'Masked Singer + Alter Ego' sneak peak (1.1) and the special actually rose by two-tenths from last week's original broadcast, clearly benefiting from more direct NFL assistance. At 8, the 'Fantasy Island' season finale (0.3) was two-tenths behind last Sunday but on-par with its normal Tuesday performance. Reruns of 'Simpsons' (0.4) and 'Family Guy' (0.1) sandwiched the 'Island' finale. The CW had an encore of 'Penn & Teller' (0.1) and an invisible 'Wellington Paranormal' (0.0/0.0).

Finals Update: The 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards (+0.3), NFL Overrun (+2.7), NFL: Chiefs v. Ravens (+1.2), To Tell the Truth (+0.1), and repeats of The Simpsons (+0.1) and Family Guy (+0.1) adjusted up. Both episodes of Football Night in America (-1.0, -1.2) and the 7 PM repeat of The Masked Singer & Alter Ego Sneak Peak (-0.9) adjusted down.