The MindShare Top 50
NFL Week 2 takes No. 1 at 87.5, up from the opening week’s 80.9: the biggest entry on this chart since the World Cup final. Six nationally televised game windows summed 126.3 million average viewers, each counted at three hours, and the Sunday studio shows ride the same line at their own length: The OT 11.75 million for its half hour on FOX, Football Night in America 8.08 million for 80 minutes on NBC. Commanders–Cowboys drew 27.2 million in FOX’s late window, the largest audience of the week; Colts–Chiefs on Sunday Night Football 24.3 million; Broncos–Chiefs on Monday night 23.2 million across ESPN and ABC, the most-watched Week 1 Monday game of ESPN’s era; CBS’s Steelers–Patriots singleheader 19.3 million, its best Week 2 on record; Lions–Bills 18.6 million on Prime Video’s Thursday opener; and FOX’s early window 13.7 million. Game windows averaged 20.4 million, up 6% on last year. College Football Week 3 holds No. 2 (52.1) on 18 national windows plus College GameDay (2.8 million from Oxford, its most-watched Week 3 show ever), led by LSU–Ole Miss at 10.9 million in ABC primetime for Lane Kiffin’s return to Oxford.
Below the football it was television’s week: the Emmys are new at No. 3 (22.4) and the Dancing with the Stars premiere at No. 4 (22.4). Monday’s ceremony averaged 6.7 million across NBC and Peacock, down about 12% on last year, as The Pitt won drama and Widow’s Bay swept comedy. Dancing’s two-night premiere drew 6.77 million Tuesday and 6.44 million Wednesday plus three days at Hulu No. 1. Netflix’s Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story is the biggest streaming debut at No. 5 (20.2), 12.1 million views in four days, in line with the Ed Gein and Menendez seasons. Crew Girl jumps from No. 34 to No. 9 on 11.3 million views, Jo Koy’s stand-up special is new at No. 12, and Reacher’s spinoff Neagley enters at No. 33. Resident Evil opened to $60.2 million, a franchise record, and is new at No. 13; Spider-Man: Brand New Day passed The Force Awakens on Tuesday to become the highest-grossing film in domestic history, and at $6.4 million for the weekend it sits outside the fifty. The WNBA’s closing regular-season week is new at No. 27 on five published national windows, led by Lynx–Fever at 1.9 million on ESPN and Caitlin Clark’s return in Toronto at 1.32 million on ION. Kimmel rises to No. 21 on the week Stephen Colbert visited (3.62 million for that episode), Fallon re-enters at No. 38, and Ella Langley’s Choosin’ Texas took the all-time Hot 100 record outright with a 23rd week at No. 1; she slides to No. 46 as her streams cool. The US Open finals, Instadocs and Practical Magic 2 leave the chart from No. 3, No. 8 and No. 24 as their moments pass.
On the numbers. The Emmys figure is Nielsen’s preliminary NBC-plus-Peacock average; NBC alone measured 6.31 million. College windows under half a million viewers and the unmeasured conference-network games are not counted, so that entry is a floor. Cable news entries use each program’s published full-week Nielsen average where one exists (Fox’s rounded figures are carried as floors) and the published nights where it does not, stated in each blurb. The WNBA and college entries are floors: windows without a published audience are not counted.
Below the football it was television’s week: the Emmys are new at No. 3 (22.4) and the Dancing with the Stars premiere at No. 4 (22.4). Monday’s ceremony averaged 6.7 million across NBC and Peacock, down about 12% on last year, as The Pitt won drama and Widow’s Bay swept comedy. Dancing’s two-night premiere drew 6.77 million Tuesday and 6.44 million Wednesday plus three days at Hulu No. 1. Netflix’s Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story is the biggest streaming debut at No. 5 (20.2), 12.1 million views in four days, in line with the Ed Gein and Menendez seasons. Crew Girl jumps from No. 34 to No. 9 on 11.3 million views, Jo Koy’s stand-up special is new at No. 12, and Reacher’s spinoff Neagley enters at No. 33. Resident Evil opened to $60.2 million, a franchise record, and is new at No. 13; Spider-Man: Brand New Day passed The Force Awakens on Tuesday to become the highest-grossing film in domestic history, and at $6.4 million for the weekend it sits outside the fifty. The WNBA’s closing regular-season week is new at No. 27 on five published national windows, led by Lynx–Fever at 1.9 million on ESPN and Caitlin Clark’s return in Toronto at 1.32 million on ION. Kimmel rises to No. 21 on the week Stephen Colbert visited (3.62 million for that episode), Fallon re-enters at No. 38, and Ella Langley’s Choosin’ Texas took the all-time Hot 100 record outright with a 23rd week at No. 1; she slides to No. 46 as her streams cool. The US Open finals, Instadocs and Practical Magic 2 leave the chart from No. 3, No. 8 and No. 24 as their moments pass.
On the numbers. The Emmys figure is Nielsen’s preliminary NBC-plus-Peacock average; NBC alone measured 6.31 million. College windows under half a million viewers and the unmeasured conference-network games are not counted, so that entry is a floor. Cable news entries use each program’s published full-week Nielsen average where one exists (Fox’s rounded figures are carried as floors) and the published nights where it does not, stated in each blurb. The WNBA and college entries are floors: windows without a published audience are not counted.