Sports, NCIS, FBI Headline Top Performing Broadcasts
By Movieguide® Contributor
Ratings reveal that shows with positive and moral themes can still pull an audience.
The Nielsen ratings for the 2022-2023 TV season reveal that YELLOWSTONE, a western drama with some biblical elements, was the most-watched show of the year, drawing in over 11.5 million viewers each week. YELLOWSTONE was one of only three programs that averaged over 10 million viewers per week, the other two were Sunday Night Football (18.1 million) and Monday Night Football (10.1 million).
While sports drew in the largest audience by far, unscripted shows performed well along with scripted sitcoms and dramas. Shows that ran with immoral and explicit themes did not perform well, losing out on viewers compared to their morally strong counterparts.
NCIS (9.8 million), FBI (9.5 million), Chicago Fire (9.2), and Blue Bloods (9.2) were all among the top ten shows in viewership, revealing that audiences still hunger for criminal investigation and first responder shows which have held large viewership numbers for many years.
Primetime TV was down nine percent as a whole this year compared to last year, but three networks came in under that – ABC, CBS, and Fox. ABC and Fox both fell 1%, while CBS fell 5%. Fox led in viewership among 18-to-49-year-olds, the key ad-sales demographic. This marked the 15th year in a row that Fox has led this demographic, aided in large part this year by hosting the Superbowl.
NBC saw the largest drop in ratings among the 18-49 age range, in large part to hosting both the Winter Olympics and Superbowl last year.
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