ESPN and Fox News battled to a primetime ratings tie last week, according to Nielsen.
The 24-hour sports channel – which won cable’s primetime ratings race two weeks ago – averaged 2.6 million viewers to tie with Fox News for the top spot during the week of Nov. 28 to Dec. 4, according to Nielsen.
Hallmark Channel’s popular holiday-themed programming lineup helped the network finish third with 2.2 million viewers, followed by AMC with 1.5 million watchers.
Fifth place was a three-way tie between USA Network, Freeform and HGTV (all with 1.4 million viewers) followed by History and TBS, which both averaged 1.3 million viewers. Discovery Channel rounded out the top 10 with 1.2 million viewers.
Fox News was the most watched network on a 24-hour basis, averaging 1.6 million viewers, followed by Hallmark Channel, Nickelodeon, ESPN and Disney Channel.
ESPN was the top choice among adults 18-49, according to Nielsen.
Most Watched Cable Shows For The Week of 11/28-12/4
Date Show Network Total Viewers
11/28 Monday Night Football-GB/Phi ESPN 13.0 million
12/4 The Walking Dead AMC 10.4 million
12/1 Thursday Night Football-Dal/Minn. NFL Network 4.4 million
12/1 Tucker Carlson Tonight Fox News 4.3 million
11/30 The O’Reilly Factor Fox News 3.9 million
11/29 The O’Reilly Factor Fox News 3.9 million
11/28 The O’Reilly Factor Fox News 3.8 million
12/4 Looks Like Christmas Hallmark Channel 3.8 million
12/3 Dream of Christmas Hallmark Channel 3.7 million
12/4 Talking Dead AMC 3.7 million
Source: Nielsen
