Tucker Carlson reached 4.94 million viewers for his Kyle Rittenhouse interview on Monday, the Fox News Channel opinion host's largest audience since the night of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Rittenhouse was acquitted on murder charges last week and Carlson was given the chance for the post-trial interview because of the support he had shown him, according to the 18-year-old's family.
Carlson has averaged 3.16 million viewers on a typical night this year, the Nielsen company said.
ABC News and Diane Sawyer had strong ratings for her Friday night interview with members of a California family held captive for many years by their parents. That “20/20” episode reached more than 7.4 million viewers.
Fox broadcasting was the top-rated network in prime time last week, averaging 5.4 million viewers. NBC had 4.8 million, CBS had 4.5 million, ABC had 4.1 million, Univision had 1.5 million, Telemundo had 1 million and Ion Television had 880,000.
Fox News Channel was the most-watched cable news channel in prime time, averaging 2.89 million viewers. ESPN had 2.31 million, Hallmark had 1.58 million, MSNBC had 1.18 million and HGTV had 893,000.
ABC's “World News Tonight” won the evening news ratings race with an average of 8.3 million viewers. NBC's “Nightly News” had 7.2 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.4 million.
For the week of Nov. 15-21, the 20 most popular programs in prime time, their networks and viewerships:
1. NFL Football: Pittsburgh at L.A. Chargers, NBC, 14.55 million.
2. NFL Football: New England at Atlanta, Fox, 13.52 million.
3. “The OT,” Fox, 11.6 million.
4. “NFL Pregame,” NBC, 11.2 million.
5. NFL Football: L.A. Rams at San Francisco, ESPN, 10.7 million.
6. “NFL Pregame,” Fox, 8.59 million.
7. “Football Night in America, Part 3,” NBC, 8.54 million.
8. “FBI,” CBS, 7.61 million.
9. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 7.58 million.
10. “Yellowstone,” Paramount, 7.42 million.
11. “20/20,” ABC, 7.41 million.
12. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 6.95 million.
13. “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC, 6.78 million.
14. “The Equalizer,” CBS, 6.59 million.
15. “The Voice” (Monday), NBC, 6.56 million.
16. “FBI: International,” CBS, 5.96 million.
17. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 5.79 million.
18. “Survivor,” CBS, 5.77 million.
19. “FBI: Most Wanted,” CBS, 5.64 million.
20. “NFL Pregame,” ESPN, 5.5 million.
