The 100 Most-Watched Telecasts of 2024: NFL, Paris Olympics, Presidential Debate, Lots of ‘Tracker’ and the ‘Young Sheldon’ Finale

As a seasoned television viewer with decades of experience under my belt, I must say that the current lineup of sports events is nothing short of spectacular! With the NFL, NBA, and Major League Baseball all represented, there’s truly something for everyone.

It’s not surprising that streaming platforms like Netflix are eager to get involved in live sports broadcasting. This is because sports programming has a significant influence over our viewing patterns, as demonstrated by EbMaster’s annual list of the year’s 100 most-watched primetime telecasts. Out of these 100 programs, an impressive 75 were sports broadcasts (up from 56 last year). This increase is due to 45 NFL games (the same as last year), 19 episodes from the Paris Summer Olympics, and both the NBA Finals (four out of five matches) and a major World Series.

2024 saw the World Series return to the list after a year’s absence, with all five games played due to the high-profile matchup between the major market teams, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees. Interestingly, this year was exceptional as the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship didn’t even make it into the top 100 telecast lists, while the Women’s Basketball Championship did. It’s worth noting that both games were aired simultaneously, however, this chart only considers individual networks, so the actual numbers (18.87 million for the women’s final and 14.82 for the men’s final) would be higher if we included the combined viewership.

During the chart, the election year showed up twice, with the first occurrence being the September 10th Presidential Debate hosted by ABC. The figure of 20.3 million corresponds to the viewers on Alphabet’s network specifically; however, since it was also broadcasted across various networks, its estimated audience was a staggering 67.1 million, making it the second most-watched program of the year, surpassed only by the Super Bowl.

This year, sports dominated most of the schedule, leaving little space for conventional prime-time programming. Out of what was available, CBS claimed almost all of it. To be specific, their hit show “Tracker” took 15 time slots, making it more popular than anything except the NFL and the Olympics. The remaining spots were filled by four different airings of “60 Minutes,” as well as the final two episodes of “Young Sheldon” back-to-back.

Year after year, the two most-anticipated award shows continue their ascent: The Oscars remained the most-viewed entertainment broadcast of the year. Specifically, on March 10, 20.2 million viewers watched “Oppenheimer” claim the best picture prize – an increase from 19.4 million in 2023 and 17.6 million in 2022. Meanwhile, CBS’ Grammy Awards saw a viewership boost this year with 18.1 million viewers, contrasting with 13.4 million in 2023 and 10.2 million in 2022. Interestingly, the Grammys even surpassed the Oscars in terms of audience demographic 18-49.

NBC took the lead among all broadcast outlets, securing a total of 38 slots this year, an increase from 24 last year. This success can be attributed to their primetime Sunday Night Football and extensive coverage of the Summer Olympics during various evenings. Following NBC was CBS with 25 slots, ABC had 12, Prime Video secured 10, Fox managed 9, ESPN had 5, and there was one slot assigned to Fox News.

Below, our ratings roundup of the year’s most-watched telecasts (in Live+7 ratings), according to broadcast and cable measurements, in both total viewers and adults 18-49.

For historical record, here are previous year-end telecast rankers: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015.

MOST-WATCHED PRIMETIME TELECASTS OF 2024 (TOTAL VIEWERS)

THE 50 TOP-RATED PRIMETIME TELECASTS OF 2024 (ADULTS 18-49)

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2024-12-27 22:48