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Fox News Channel, ‘America’s Got Talent’ continue ratings runs

A young girl wearing a white floral dress with her arms stretched upward stands in front of a microphone.
Victory Brinker in “America’s Got Talent” on NBC, the top rated prime-time show for the week.
(Elizabeth Morris / NBC)
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The combination of interest in Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan and broadcast network schedules mostly filled with reruns and alternative programming made Fox News Channel last week’s highest-rated network in prime time.

Fox News averaged 2.936 million viewers between Aug. 16 and Sunday, an increase of 33.7% from the 2.196-million average the previous week, according to live-plus-same-day figures released Tuesday by Nielsen.

CBS finished second, first among broadcast networks, averaging 2.57 million viewers, also for 22 hours of prime-time programming.

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Fox News Channel had each of the 13 top-rated prime-time cable programs and 16 of the top 20, led by the Tuesday edition of “Hannity,” which featured an interview with former President Donald Trump and averaged 4.82 million viewers, fourth overall.

Fox News Channel has finished first in prime time among cable networks for seven consecutive weeks.

MSNBC’s viewership dropped 7.1% from 1.288 million to 1.197, but it still finished second among cable networks for the second consecutive week.

HGTV was third for the second consecutive week, averaging 1.06 million, 3.2% less than its 1.142 million average the previous week. TLC was fourth, also for the second consecutive week, averaging 1.043 million, nearly matching its 1.052 million average the previous week.

CNN also experienced a sharp increase in viewership, rising 20.6% to 943,000 viewers, fifth among cable networks, two spots higher than the previous week when it averaged 782,000.

NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” was the top-ranked prime-time program for the sixth time in the 10 weeks it has aired this summer, averaging 6.091 million viewers for its Tuesday edition. Its Wednesday edition was third, averaging 5.74 million.

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The week’s only other prime-time program to average more than 5 million viewers was an edition of the CBS News magazine “60 Minutes,” with three previously broadcast segments that were updated for the broadcast and averaged 5.978 million viewers, finishing second for the second consecutive week following the conclusion of NBC’s coverage of the Summer Olympics.

NBC was second among broadcast networks, averaging 2.53 million viewers. ABC was third, averaging 2.39 million viewers. ABC’s biggest audience was for “Celebrity Family Feud,” fifth for the week, averaging 4.74 million.

Fox was fourth among the major English-language broadcast networks, averaging 1.38 million. Its most-watched program was the cooking show “Hell’s Kitchen,” which was 37th overall, averaging 2.607 million viewers.

The CW again was fifth among the five major English-language broadcast networks, averaging 470,000 viewers for its 12 hours of programming. Its ratings leader was the third season premiere of the Canadian crime drama “Coroner,” which averaged 822,000 viewers.

The Netflix romantic drama “Virgin River” and the NBC canceled series “Manifest” led the list of streamed programs for the second consecutive week. Viewers watched 1.27 billion minutes of the 30 episodes of “Virgin River” from July 19-25. Viewership was down 39.8% from the 2.109 billion minutes the previous week, the first full week its 10-episode third season was available.

“Manifest” was second with 939 million minutes watched of its 29 episodes, 27.4% less than the 1.294 billion minutes watched the previous week.

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