RATINGS: College Football Sparks CBS to Top Honors

Here are the highlights of the seven ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks last night (10/17/20):

[Note: Fast affiliate ratings are inaccurate for live sports.]

CBS (9.013 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 2.3, #1) got a boost on Saturday thanks to its special presentation of "College Football: Georgia at Alabama" (9.013 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 2.3, #1).

ABC (2.165 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 0.5, #2) had to settle for the silver with its weekly "Saturday Night Football" (2.165 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 0.5, #2).

Next up was NBC (1.956 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.3, #3) with repeats of "Weakest Link" (2.046 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T3), "Ellen's Game of Games" (1.799 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T3) and "SNL Vintage" (2.022 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T3).

And finally, rebroadcasts of "The Masked Singer" (0.727 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 0.1, #7) and "I Can See Your Voice" (0.799 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 0.2, #6) on FOX (0.763 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.2, #4) rounded out the night.

In late-night metered market ratings (via NBC's press release):

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Here are the highlights of the eight ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks one year ago (10/19/19):

ABC (6.250 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 1.6, #1) led the network race on Saturday with its weekly coverage of "Saturday Night College Football" (6.250 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 1.6, #1).

NBC (1.925 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T2) and FOX (1.856 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T2) then shared the silver as the latter opted for repeats of "The Masked Singer" (1.664 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T2) and "The Masked Singer" (2.048 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T2) with the Peacock serving up the feature "Jurassic World" (1.925 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T2).

And finally, CBS (2.267 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 0.3, #4) closed out the night with repeats of "Bob (Hearts) Abishola" (1.778 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T6), another "Bob (Hearts) Abishola" (1.713 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 0.2, #8) and "FBI" (2.069 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T6) plus a new "48 Hours" (2.987 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T2).

In late-night metered market ratings (via NBC's press release):

· An Oct. 19 encore edition of "Saturday Night Live," hosted by Woody Harrelson and featuring musical guest Billie Eilish, has averaged a 2.4 rating in "live plus same day" household results from 44 local markets metered by Nielsen Media Research and a 0.8 rating in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters.

· Note that current metered-market results are not compatible with data issued before Oct. 5 due to changes in Nielsen methodology.

· Versus primetime programming on the Big 4 networks Saturday night, the "SNL" rebroadcast is the #2 show of the night in metered-market households and in 18-49 in the local people meters, behind only ABC's Michigan-Penn State college football.

Source: Nielsen Media Research

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