College football's return boosts television ratings

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Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

Clemson tight end Braden Galloway is brought down by Georgie defenders during the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 4, 2021, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

NEW YORK – Television viewers are ready for some football.

Three college matchups scored among the Nielsen company's four most-watched television programs last week. Only an episode of NBC's ā€œAmerica's Got Talentā€ broke through.

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The most popular game was ABC's Saturday night telecast where Georgia handed third-ranked Clemson a loss in Charlotte, North Carolina. The other popular matchups paired Notre Dame and Florida State and Ohio State and Minnesota.

It's all a warmup act for pro football, which starts its season this week and promises to dominate live television viewing.

Since it showed two of the three games, ABC was the week's most-watched network in prime time, with an average of 4.4 million viewers. CBS had 2.6 million, NBC had 2.53 million, Fox had 2.49 million, Univision had 1.5 million, Ion Television had 1.1 million and Telemundo had 1 million.

Fox News Channel led the cable networks, averaging 2.59 million viewers in prime time. MSNBC had 1.218 million, ESPN had 1.217 million, HGTV had 1.05 million and TLC had 921,000.

ABC's ā€œWorld News Tonight" led the evening news ratings race with an average of 8.2 million viewers. NBC's ā€œNightly Newsā€ had 6.9 million and the ā€œCBS Evening Newsā€ had 5 million.

For the week of Aug. 30-Sept. 5, the 20 most-watched programs in prime time, their networks and viewerships:

1. College Football: Georgia vs. Clemson, ABC, 8.86 million.

2. College Football: Notre Dame vs. Florida State, ABC, 7.75 million.

3. ā€œAmerica's Got Talentā€ (Tuesday), NBC, 7.19 million.

4. College Football: Ohio State at Minnesota, Fox, 6.3 million.

5. ā€œAmerica's Got Talentā€ (Wednesday), NBC, 6.1 million.

6. ā€œ60 Minutes,ā€ CBS, 5.91 million.

7. ā€œTucker Carlson Tonightā€ (Monday), Fox News, 4.31 million.

8. ā€œBig Brotherā€ (Thursday), CBS, 4.1 million.

9. ā€œBig Brotherā€ (Wednesday), CBS, 4.01 million.

10. ā€œTucker Carlson Tonightā€ (Tuesday), Fox News, 3.85 million.

11. ā€œHannityā€ (Monday), Fox News, 3.84 million.

12. ā€œNCIS,ā€ CBS, 3.83 million.

13. ā€œCollege Football Pregameā€ (Sunday), ABC, 3.82 million.

14. ā€œCMA Summer Jam,ā€ ABC, 3.68 million.

15. ā€œAmerican Ninja Warrior,ā€ NBC, 3.67 million.

16. ā€œHannityā€ (Tuesday), Fox News, 3.62 million.

17. ā€œTucker Carlson Tonightā€ (Wednesday), Fox News, 3.52 million.

18. ā€œThe $100,000 Pyramid,ā€ ABC, 3.514 million.

19. ā€œThe Neighborhood,ā€ CBS, 3.505 million.

20. ā€œHannityā€ (Wednesday), Fox News, 3.393 million.


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