Make no mistake. Football still rules.
The 10 top-rated television programs for 2020 are out and football, as usual, dominates the list.
NFL telecasts made up the top six programs, including the Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers which drew a 33.2 rating and an average of 102 million viewers. No other program cleared a 20 rating, according to The Nielsen Company.
In fact, the second-rated program of the year was the Super Bowl post-game show, which drew an 18.9 rating and 58 million average views.
The top non-football program was “The Masked Singer,” which followed Fox’s Super Bowl coverage on Feb. 2. The only other non-football show in the top 10 was the Oscars ceremony on Feb. 9 on ABC.
NFL playoff games accounted for seven of the top 10 telecasts in 2020.
The College Football Playoff Championship on ESPN ranked No. 8 with an 8.4 rating and 25.8 million average viewers.
It wasn’t just the big-time games that put football on top, either. NBC’s Sunday Night Football was the top-rated regularly-scheduled program of the year with more than 16 million average viewers. Thursday Night Football on Fox and NFL Network ranked fourth with almost 13 million average viewers.
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Telecast, Network, Date, Rating, Average viewers
1. Super Bowl Fox Feb. 2 33 102
10. The Oscars ABC Feb. 9 8 24
2. Super Bowl postgame Fox Feb. 2 19 58
3. NFC Championship Fox Jan. 19 14 44
4. NFC Div. playoff Fox Jan. 12 12 38
5. AFC wild-card playoff CBS Jan. 4 10 32
6. AFC Div. playoff CBS Jan. 11 10 30
7. The Masked Singer Fox Feb. 2 9 27
8. CFP Championship ESPN Jan. 13 8 26
9. NFC Champ. Postgame Fox Jan. 19 8 24
