Florencio Jacobo

History and Sociology of Sport

Nielsen Ratings
In order to track weekly prime-time Nielsen ratings for the most-watched television
programs, for this assignment, I used miningjournal.net, where here they have listed weekly
Nielsen ratings from October 26th to November 22nd. The following shows what television
shows were watched the most, which include sporting events, reality, sitcom, political, etc.:
*Oct. 26-Nov. 1
1. NBC Sunday Night Football: Green Bay at Denver, NBC, 23 million.
2. "Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick," NBC, 18 million.
3. "The OT," Fox, 17.9 million.
4. NFL Football: Miami at New England, CBS, 17.5 million.
5. World Series Game 5, Fox, 17.3 million.
6. "NCIS," CBS, 16.8 million.
7. World Series Game 5 preshow, Fox, 16.6 million.
8. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 16.3 million.
9. World Series Game 1, Fox, 14.9 million.
10. Republican presidential debate, CNBC, 14 million.

*Nov. 2-Nov. 8
1. NFL Football: Philadelphia at Dallas, NBC, 23.05 million.
2. "NCIS," CBS, 17.98 million.
3. NFL Pregame Show, NBC, 16.89 million.

4. "60 Minutes," CBS, 15.76 million.

5. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 14.81 million.
6. "NCIS: New Orleans," CBS, 14:11 million.
7. "Country Music Association Awards," ABC, 13.62 million.
8. "Football Night in America," NBC, 13.1 million.
9. "The Walking Dead," AMC, 12.44 million.
10. NFL Football: Indiana at Carolina, ESPN, 12.4 million.

*Nov. 9-15
1. NFL Football: Arizona at Seattle, NBC, 19.39 million.
2. "60 Minutes," CBS, 18.13 million.
3. "NCIS," CBS, 16.68 million.
4. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 14.92 million.
5. "Sunday Night NFL Pregame," NBC, 13.94 million.
6. Republican Presidential Debate, Fox Business, 13.5 million.
7. "The Walking Dead," AMC, 12.87 million.
8. "Dancing With the Stars," ABC, 12.63 million.
9. "NCIS: New Orleans," CBS, 12.39 million.
10. "The Voice" (Monday), NBC, 12.02 million.

*Nov. 16-22
1. NFL Football: Cincinnati at Arizona, NBC, 18.01 million.

2. "NCIS," CBS, 16.59 million.

3. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 15.19 million.
4. "Sunday Night NFL Pregame Show," NBC, 13.69 million.
5. "The Walking Dead," AMC, 13.22 million.
6. "NCIS: New Orleans," CBS, 13.01 million.
7. "The OT," Fox, 12.73 million.
8. "Dancing With the Stars," ABC, 12.35 million.
9. NFL Football: Houston at Cincinnati, ESPN, 12.19 million.
10. "Empire," Fox, 11:34 million.
*Data provided by the Associated Press.
One clear similarity between all of these weekly ratings is that a sporting event, more
specifically, NFL football, always ranks at number one. The week of October 26 to November 1
has by far the most sporting events listed, with a total of six out of ten spots taken by an NFL
related event and MLB World Series games. November 9-November 15 has the lowest amount of
sports programming listed, with a total of two, both being NFL related. The trend that I see is
that sporting events take a huge chunk of viewers and many spots on each weekly listing.
Popular shows, such as the Big Bang Theory and the Walking Dead appear consistently weekly
compared to politics, such as the Republican Presidential Debate, that ranks lowly. It is clear that
politics arent popular among television viewers, which is surprising, given the importance and
significant role it has in our daily lives. Sitcoms and reality television shows do appear, but none
of these categories can compare to the total viewership of sports programming. The NFL plays a
significant role in what people watch, especially on Sundays. No other sport, except baseball,
appears on the charts. It shows the popularity of certain sports and the lack of popularity of many

others. Soccer, basketball, hockey, and other sports are not listed. These weekly numbers
(millions) highlight what the majority of the American population prefers to watch but these
programs and rankings may change depending on the time period and many other factors.
Sources:
http://www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/629270/Nielsen-ratings.html?nav=5197
http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/top10s.html