ESPN’s NFL Football and Major League Baseball Wild Card game coverage was enough to hold off Fox News’ coverage of the second Presidential Debate to finish as the most watched cable network in primetime last week, according to Nielsen.
ESPN averaged 3.9 million viewers during the week of Oct. 3 to Oct. 9 to best Fox News’ 3.5 million viewers to finish first among all cable networks, said Nielsen. ESPN was bolstered by its Oct. 3 Minnesota Vikings/N.Y. Giants Monday Night Football telecast, which was the most watched show of the week with 13.1 million viewers.
CNN, which drew a cable-high 11.3 million viewers for live coverage of the Oct. 9 Presidential Debate, finished third with 2.7 million viewers, followed by TBS with 2.2 million viewers and MSNBC with 2.0 million watchers.
USA Network (1.4 million viewers), HGTV and Disney Channel (tied with 1.2 million), The Weather Channel (1 million) and History (987,000) rounded out the top 10 most watched cable networks for the week.
Fox News was the most watched cable network of the week, while ESPN was the top choice among adult 18-49 viewers in primetime, according to Nielsen.
Most Watched Cable Shows During Week Of Oct. 3-Oct. 9
Date Show Network Total Viewers
10/3 NFL Monday Night Football ESPN 13.1 million
10/9 2nd Presidential Debate CNN 11.3 million
10/9 2nd Presidential Debate Fox News 9.9 million
10/9 Presidential Debate Analysis Fox News 8.5 million
10/5 MLB Wild Card: NY Mets/SF Giants ESPN 7.4 million
10/9 Debate Night In America CNN 7.0 million
10/4 Vice Presidential Debate Fox News 6.1 million
10/7 MLB NL Division Series Fox Sports 1 5.6 million
10/9 2nd Presidential Debate MSNBC 5.5 million
10/9 Vice Presidential Debate Analysis Fox News 5.2 million
Source: Nielsen
