Weekly Cable Ratings: ESPN, Fox News Tie for Primetime Honors

By R. Thomas Umstead
published

‘Yellowstone’ season premiere helps Paramount Network land among top five most watched networks in primetime

Hannity
Fox News' 'Hannity' (Image credit: Fox News)

ESPN and Fox News extended its Fall ratings winning streak into November, topping both the primetime and total day charts.

ESPN and Fox News finished in a first place tie on the primetime charts for the second week in a row, with each network averaging 2.8 million viewers for the week of Nov. 1 to Nov. 7,  according to Nielsen. 

Paramount Network joined the ranks of the most watched cable networks in primetime last week with its Yellowstone season four series premiere. The series --which stars Kevin Costner -- drew more than 8 million viewers for its season four premiere on Sunday, helping the network average 1.5 million viewers for the week, said Nielsen. 

Read Also: Paramount Plus Releases Video Teaser for 'Yellowstone' Prequel Series '1883' 

Hallmark Channel ramped up its Countdown to Christmas lineup of holiday movies to finish fourth with 1.4 million viewers, followed by MSNBC with 1.1 million watchers.

HGTV was sixth with 859,000 viewers, followed by TLC (841,000), ESPN2 (765,000), INSP (745,000), and History (735,000), said Nielsen. 

Fox News topped the total day charts for the 38th consecutive week, averaging 1.6 million viewers, followed by ESPN (922,000), Hallmark Channel (783,000), MSNBC (656,000) and Paramount Network (586,000), said Nielsen. 

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.