Linear TV = Football With a Side of News

Three big questions re: The Road to The White House:
1) Which networks had the largest primetime audience?
2) Which linear telecasts had the largest audience?
3) What share of the top TV telecasts does sports account for?

Big question #1: Which networks had the largest primetime audience?

Top 10 networks by total primetime viewers in 2023 (YoY growth) according to Variety:
1) NBC – 4.5M (↓ 12%)
2) CBS – 4.5M (↓ 12%)
3) ABC – 3.9M (↑ 1%)
4) Fox – 3.4M (↑ 4%)
5) Fox News – 1.9M (↓ 20%)
6) ESPN – 1.7M (↓ 9%)
7) Univision – 1.3M (↓ 4%)
8) MSNBC – 1.2M (↑ 2%)
9) Ion – 1.0M (↓ 3%)
10) HGTV – 943K (↓ 13%)

Top networks by average viewership in 2023 according to Nielsen (h/t: Michael Mulvihill):
1) YouTube – 4.8M
2) Netflix – 4.4M
3) CBS – 2.3M
4) ABC – 2.1M
5) NBC – 1.9M
6) Hulu – 1.9M
7) Prime Video – 1.8M
8) Fox – 1.4M
9) Fox News – 1.2M
10) Disney+ – 1.1M

Big question #2: Which linear telecasts had the largest audience?

Top 10 TV telecasts of 2023 by total viewers according to Variety:
1) Super Bowl LVII: Kansas City vs. Philadelphia (Fox) – 115.0M
2) AFC Championship: Kansas City vs. Cincinnati (CBS) – 53.5M
3) NFC Playoff: San Francisco vs. Dallas (Fox) – 45.9M
4) NFC Playoff: Philadelphia vs. NY Giants (Fox) – 28.9M
5) NFL Playoff: Cincinnati vs. Baltimore (NBC) – 27.1M
6) NFL Thursday Night Special: Detroit vs. Kansas City (NBC) – 25.0M
7) NFL Sunday Night Football: Kansas City vs. NY Jets (NBC) – 25.0M
8) NFL Thursday Night Special: San Francisco vs. Seattle (NBC) – 25.0M
9) NFL Sunday Night Football: San Francisco vs. Dallas (NBC) – 24.5M
10) NFL Sunday Night Football: Green Bay vs. Kansas City (NBC) – 23.8M

Sad but true: Choosing the leader of the free world gets more viewers than an NFL conference championship game (positive), but 70% less than the Super Bowl!

Big question #3: What share of the top TV telecasts does the NFL account for?

NFL Football’s share of top 100 TV telecasts according to Nielsen:
1) 2018 – 61%
2) 2019-  73%
3) 2020 – 72%
4) 2021 – 75%
5) 2022 – 82%
6) 2023 – 93%

Quote from Anthony Crupi – Sports Media Reporter @ Sportico:

“If it’s widely accepted that TV is now merely a delivery system for live sports and insurance commercials, last year’s deliveries suggest that the rest of the so-called Big Four leagues have been remanded to a shadow tier.”

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