Live sports programming continued to influence the primetime ratings charts as baseball-infused TBS and football-driven ESPN came out on top for the second week in a row.
TBS finished first among all cable networks during the week of Oct. 18 to Oct. 24, averaging 3.1 million viewers on the strength of its coverage of baseball’s National League Championship Series. TBS’ Oct. 23 Los Angeles Dodgers-Atlanta Braves Game 6 telecast averaged nearly 7 million viewers, according to Nielsen.
ESPN finished second for the week with 3 million viewers, led by its Oct. 18 Buffalo Bills-Tennessee Titans Monday Night Football telecast, which drew 12.5 million viewers, according to Nielsen.
National sports network FS1 pulled up to fourth place on the primetime charts after drawing 5.8 million viewers for its coverage of Game 6 of the Boston Red Sox-Houston Astros American League Championship Series on Oct. 22, said Nielsen.
Fox News finished third for the week with 2.3 million viewers, with MSNBC finishing fifth with 1.2 million viewers.
Hallmark Channel (1.1 million viewers), TNT (926,000), HGTV (887,000), TLC (786,000) and INSP (748,000) rounded out the top 10 most watched networks for the week.
Fox News continued its impressive run atop the total day charts, winning for the 36th consecutive week. ESPN (960,000 viewers), TBS (831,000), MSNBC (696,000) and the Hallmark Channel (605,000) finished behind the Fox News, according to Nielsen.
