Football, Politics Dominate Cable’s Q3

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The list of most-watched shows for the third quarter was dominated by rites of autumn: live National Football League and college-football games, as well as news coverage of the 2016 presidential campaign, according to Nielsen.

Three ESPN Monday Night Football telecasts and the network’s Sept. 5 Ole Miss-Florida State primetime college football telecast, along with Fox News Channel and CNN’s coverage of the Republican and Democratic conventions in July accounted for seven of the 10 most-watched shows during the period of June 27 to Sept. 25, according to Nielsen.

Overall, Fox News finished the third quarter as the most-watched network in primetime, besting USA Network, TNT, HGTV and ESPN.

R. Thomas Umstead
R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.