Viewers Finding Holiday Programming
'Tis the season for original holiday programming to sprinkle the weekly cable primetime ratings rakings.
Disney’ Channel's holiday special Austin & Jessie & Ally: All Star New Year – which combined the casts from the tween-targeted network’s hit series Austin & Ally and Jessie – drew 4.8 million viewers to finish fifth for the week of Dec. 3 to Dec. 9., according to Nielsen. Directly behind the special was Nickelodeon’s Saturday morning premiere telecast of the It’s a SpongeBob Christmas! special, which averaged 4.7 million viewers.
Also, a pair of Dec. 9 original movies rang up big audience numbers. Hallmark Channel’s Help For The Holidays drew 3.6 million watchers -- the most watched 2013 original movie for the network -- while ABC Family’s Mistle-Tones averaged 3.1 million viewers.
Overall ABC Family finished second among cable networks during the week with an average of 2.9 million viewers, behind football-driven ESPN’s 3.3 million viewers. Hallmark’s 1.9 million viewers placed its sixth behind USA Network (2.5 million viewers), Disney Channel (2.4 million), and A&E (2 million).
TBS (1.8 million viewers), History (1.8 million); TNT (1.7 million) and Fox News (1.7 million) rounded out the top 10.
Top 10 Most Watched Shows For The Week*
DateProgramNetworkTotal Viewers
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12/3 Monday Night Football: Giants-Redskins ESPN 16.2 million
12/6 Thursday Night Football: Broncos-Raiders NFL Network 6.7 million
12/5 Duck Dynasty A&E 6.4 million
12/8 Heisman Trophy ESPN 4.9 million
12/8 Austin & Jessie & Ally Disney 4.8 million
12/8 It’s A SpongeBob Christmas! Nick 4.7 million
12/3 SportsCenter ESPN 4.7 million
12/4 Rizzoli & Isles TNT 4.7 million
12/7 Gold Rush Discovery 4.7 million
12/4 Sons Of Anarchy FX 4.6 million
*Period of Dec. 3 to Dec. 9
Source: Nielsen.
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.