As is typical this time of year, Monday Night Football on ESPN led all cable viewing for the week. Last Monday’s matchup between the Indianapolis Colts and the Tennessee Titans averaged 11.6 million viewers. A distant second for the week was Miley Cyrus led Hannah Montana which averaged 5.5 million viewers Sunday at 8pm. Bill O’Reilly’s The O’Reilly Factor took the third and fourth spots on the list last Thursday and Tuesday respectively for FNC, with both airings averaging 4.4 million. A Saturday noontime airing of SpongeBob also averaged 4.4 million to take the fifth spot. How’s that for a diverse top five?
In a presidential election politically fueled week, coverage from the news networks splattered the list. Two more airings of The O’Reilly Factor (#6, and #18), Countdown With Keith Olbermann (#10) for MSNBC and two airings of Hannity and Colmes (#12 & #13) made the top 20 for FNC.
WWE RAW on USA took the eight and eleven spots with over four million viewers on average, and the season finale of Army Wives on Lifetime drew 3.9 million on Sunday. A rerun of NCIS on USA and iCarly on Nick rounded out the top twenty (see full list below).
Not in that list, but in the top 40 was more Hannah Montana, Hannity & Colmes, The O’Reilly Factor, NCIS, iCarly and of course, SpongeBob. NCIS which is a stud for CBS even in reruns on Friday — at least in total viewers (sadly we don’t see demo numbers for the cable shows) placed four airings in the top 40 for USA.
A rare, rare appearance by The Daily Show in the top 40, which pushed at least one of the 1,087 weekly airings of SpongeBob off the list. Jon Stewart’s little show came in at number twenty-six for its Wednesday airing with 3.58 million viewers. Need you ask? Barack Obama was interviewed in that airing.
Wizards of Waverly Place (#24) made the list for Disney and our friends at Back at the Barnyard appeared twice (#27 and #37) with 3.57 million viewers in its best airing for Nick. Fairly Odd Parents (#35, 3.34 million) also made the list for Nick.
Nielsen’s top cable shows for the week ending November 2, 2008:
| Rank | Shows | NET | DAY(S) | Live+SD HH Rating | Viewers Live+SD (000) |
| 1 | NFL REGULAR SEASON L (COLTS/TITANS) | ESPN | MONDAY | 7.3 | 11,604 |
| 2 | HANNAH MONTANA | DSNY | SUNDAY | 3.4 | 5,530 |
| 3 | THE OREILLY FACTOR | FOXNC | THURSDAY | 3.1 | 4,706 |
| 4 | THE OREILLY FACTOR | FOXNC | TUESDAY | 3.0 | 4,419 |
| 5 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | SATURDAY | 2.9 | 4,408 |
| 6 | THE OREILLY FACTOR | FOXNC | WEDNESDAY | 2.9 | 4,388 |
| 7 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | SATURDAY | 2.7 | 4,286 |
| 8 | WWE ENTERTAINMENT (WWE RAW) | USA | MONDAY | 2.5 | 4,267 |
| 9 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | SATURDAY | 2.7 | 4,242 |
| 10 | COUNTDOWN W/ K. OLBERMANN | MSNBC | WEDNESDAY | 2.5 | 4,230 |
| 11 | WWE ENTERTAINMENT (WWE RAW) | USA | MONDAY | 2.4 | 4,129 |
| 12 | HANNITY & COLMES | FOXNC | THURSDAY | 2.7 | 4,001 |
| 13 | HANNITY & COLMES | FOXNC | TUESDAY | 2.6 | 3,977 |
| 14 | ARMY WIVES | LIF | SUNDAY | 2.6 | 3,942 |
| 15 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | SATURDAY | 2.7 | 3,937 |
| 16 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | SUNDAY | 2.7 | 3,917 |
| 17 | SPONGEBOB | NICK | SUNDAY | 2.6 | 3,852 |
| 18 | THE OREILLY FACTOR | FOXNC | MONDAY | 2.6 | 3,827 |
| 19 | NCIS | USA | TUESDAY | 2.5 | 3,821 |
| 20 | ICARLY | NICK | SATURDAY | 2.3 | 3,703 |
Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved
Wasn’t the bran dnew season of Hannah Montana ?
Yes, this past sunday’s show kicked off with the 1st show of season 3. Originally the final episode of season 2 (No Sugar, No Sugar) was supposed to air that night. However, Disney decided to pull that off the air and start with the episode that did air. Supposedly the way in which diabetes was portrayed in this non-aired episode was offensive to some people.
Nice finale for Army Wives!!
Thanks for this service, guys. According to your records, has Turner Classic Movies (TCM), The Fox Movie Channel (FMC), or the Encore Westerns channel EVER made the top 40?
I come with hat in hand to beg my normal beg.. any info on True Blood this week?
TIA
How is THE SHEILD doing?
What day and time did FOP come on the Top 20?
I can’t believe Hannah Montana got more viewers than SpongeBob! Still, Spongy did great this week. I’m very glad that iCarly made the top 20, and Fairly OddParents and Back at the Barnyard the top 40. I’m a Nickelodeon fan, as you can see.
How do the ratings of Sons of Anarchy compare to that of the Sopranos? I watched Sopranos start to finish, but feel SOA is a much better show. I understand it may be hard to compare ratings on a cable show vs premium channel. Thanks for this site I will bookmark it, and it shows that we parents need to turn off the tv and read to our kids more…
Jax, there’s not really any comparison. The Sopranos had many more viewers than SOA has been getting, both in its heyday, and even when it tailed off later in its run.
True Jackson’s second episode premiere on Saturday night was a success, delivering 2.6 million total viewers, which included over 1.5 million 6-14 year olds.
The show’s audience was broad, as both boys, girls and adults viewed in high numbers. Roughly one-quarter of TJVP viewers were adults.
TJVP was up 40% over the same time period last year, which is a huge increase.
TJVP easily beat all competition on Saturday night on broadcast and cable, out delivering it’s nearest competitor by 58%.
The Sunday replay also drew a strong audience, averaging 2.5 million viewers.
Why was this very good new show omitted from your list?
Nancy, you’re in the wrong week, this is for data for the week ending 11/2. TJVP didn’t air until its premiere until 11/8. It didn’t make that list either, largely because too much election coverage beat it out, though it did have 4.776 million viewers for its premiere.
For the current week you mention, the 2.6 million wasn’t high enough to make the top 20 shows either.
Oreilly and Hannity and the entire fox news is bullshit and not fair and balanced,they are about as fair and balanced as a drunk on a tight rope.Oreilly is a cry bay sex addict paid a suit off fro it with co worker and hannity is just plain dumb ,empty heard