100 Most-Watched TV Shows of 2019-20: Winners and Losers

You’ll be excused if you didn’t even realize that the 2019-2020 TV season ended on Wednesday night; since the world has been on lockdown and the pandemic has dramatically changed the look and feel of primetime over the past few weeks, everything seems a bit off kilter. But the season did end with a good old fashioned huge ratings event: The Season 3 finale of “The Masked Singer,” a show that almost felt of another time by its end.

“The Masked Singer” kicked off its most recent season as Fox’s post-Super Bowl program on February 2; by the time it ended 18 weeks later, the world was a very different place. “The Masked Singer” remained a powerhouse, however: Even if the post-Super Bowl special isn’t included, the competition series is easily the year’s top-rated entertainment series among adults 18-49.

Meanwhile, on the total viewer side, with “The Big Bang Theory” retired, another CBS staple recaptures the most-watched entertainment series crown: “NCIS,” now in its 17th season, is tops, with 15.3 million viewers.

Of course, ultimately it’s NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” that once again dominated in all measures — both adults 18-49 (6.0 rating) and total viewers (20 million). Nothing else comes close. It’s why the NFL — and the networks — are so anxious to have sports back and running by fall.

As we’ve written before, ratings just aren’t as critical as they used to be, given the multiple ways people now consume content — and the long tail of that consumption. But they remain the most common way to compare the linear performance of shows both on broadcast and cable.

Here’s a final look at some of the hits and misses of 2019–2020, followed by our complete list of the 100 most-watched shows of the season, according to both adults 18-49 and total viewers, using the most recent live+7 ratings (which include seven days’ worth of DVR and video on-demand usage).

WINNERS

Fox: Not a bad first year for the now-independent Fox network. Yep, the Super Bowl helped tremendously, as did Thursday Night Football. But that was the point, right? Fox’s strategy, now that it has uncoupled from 20th Century Fox assets, has been to rethink what it is to be a broadcast network in an age where it’s tough to be a broadcast network. And thanks to sports, and “The Masked Singer” — which the network owns and produces — it’s been a solid season. This is Fox’s first 18-49 No. 1 finish in eight years, and it’s the only network to be up year-over-year in the demo and total viewers. According to the network, even its programming on Hulu is up 32% year-over-year. “The Masked Singer” was so hot that its spinoff, “The Masked Singer: After the Mask,” also ranked higher thank shows that probably cost ten times to produce.

“90 Day Fiancé”: Before people were talking about “Tiger King,” it was TLC’s “90 Day Fiancé” franchise that had taken the crown as TV’s most popular guilty pleasure. Three — yes, three! — different editions of “90 Day Fiancé” made the top 100 list this year, including “90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days,” “90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way,” and the original series. And if TLC doesn’t already have enough to celebrate, another one of its guilty pleasures, “Dr. Pimple Popper,” manages to sneak on to the total viewers chart.

Sports: The NFL, of course, dominates as usual, with Sunday Night Football, Thursday Night Football and Monday Night Football all leading the 18-49 ranker (and with the exception of “NCIS” sneaking in there, also the total viewer list). But look at what made a last minute jump to No. 5 on this year’s 18-49 list: ESPN’s Michael Jordan docuseries “The Last Dance.” That gave ESPN two series in the top five, easily making it cable’s dominant force on the chart. A consolation prize, perhaps, for ESPN right now, given how it’s struggling to figure out how to program a sports network in a country with no sports.

Dick Wolf: Everything’s coming up Dick Wolf. His “FBI: Most Wanted” is the season’s most-watched new series, and in total viewers, he clocks four out of the eight most-watched scripted series in primetime. His three “Chicago” shows for NBC and two “FBI” shows for CBS remain durable franchises.

LOSERS

Comedy: It’s tough out there for laffers. CBS’ “Young Sheldon” is the most-watched comedy in primetime, ranked No. 9 with 11.4 million viewers — down from 14.6 million last year. There are only five comedies total in the 2+ top 50 ranker. Among adults 18-49, the performance is also weak: The top-rated comedy, Modern Family, is just outside the top 10 — and that show has just left the airwaves for good. We also listed “comedy” as a loser last year, and the prognosis has only worsened.

“The Walking Dead”: Sorry, zombies. “The Walking Dead” continues to be the top-rated cable entertainment program. But remember when it used to be TV’s top-rated show, period? Now, sadly, the slide continues, and it’s just out of the top 10, with a 1.9 rating — compared to a 3.2 last year, 5.3 rating in 2017-2018, a 8.0 in 2016-2017, and yes, a 9.6 in 2015-2016.

“Tommy”: With several renewals and cancelations still pending, CBS’ “Tommy,” starring Edie Falco, earns the distinction of being the most-watched show (7.7 million) to be canceled so far from this past season.

THE 100 TOP-RATED SERIES OF 2019-2020 (ADULTS 18-49)

TOP 100 SHOWS OF 2019-2020, TOTAL VIEWERS

America’s most-watched series of the 2019-2020 season are …

THE MOST-WATCHED BROADCAST NETWORKS OF 2019-2020 (BY TOTAL VIEWERS)

1. CBS (7,676,000; down 14%)
2. NBC (6,628,000; down 9%)
3. Fox (6,391,000; up 17%)
4. ABC (5,458,000; down 3%)
5. Univision (1,461,000; up 6%)
6. Ion (1,282,000; down 2%)
7. Telemundo (1,107,000; down 8%)
8. The CW (1,040,000; down 22%)
9. Me TV (740,000; up 5%)
10. Unimas (523,000; up 40%)

THE TOP-RATED BROADCAST NETWORKS OF 2019-2020 (BY ADULTS 18-49)

1. Fox (1.7; up 14%)
2. NBC (1.4; down 16%)
3. ABC (1.1; down 11%)
t. CBS (1.1; down 31%)
5. Univision (0.5; up 6%)
6. Telemundo (0.4; down 10%)
7. The CW (0.3; down 29%)
t. Ion (0.3; down 2%)
9.Unimas (0.2; up 46%)
10. Bounce TV (0.1; up 15%)

Source: Nielsen, NPM (09/23/2019-04/26/2020, Live+7 and 04/27/2020-05/10/2020, Live+SD) vs. (09/24/2018-04/28/2019, Live+7 and 04/29/2019-05/12/2019, Live+SD) Mon-Sat 8pm-11pm/Sun 7pm-11pm.