Sporting Events Dominate The Top 10 Most-Watched Single Broadcasts Of 2018
The results are in for the most watched television shows and single telecasts of 2018, and some of the results are rather surprising. As the Inquisitr previously reported, Roseanne topped the list of the most watched television shows of the year, followed by Sunday Night Football. The top 10 shows of the year were ranked based on their average viewers per episode. Roseanne and SNF were followed by The Big Bang Theory, NCIS, This is Us, Young Sheldon, Manifest, The Good Doctor, America’s Got Talent, and Bull.
When it came to single telecasts of the year, the top 10 was mostly dominated by sports but there were definitely a few surprises in the list. According to Nielsen ratings (which do not include streaming services like Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Hulu), the biggest broadcast of the year came on February 4 and was none other than Super Bowl LII. The broadcast brought in an astounding 104.1 million viewers, and its post-game show didn’t disappoint either.
The post-game show for the Super Bowl was the second biggest telecast of the year with 73.9 million viewers, who likely just forgot to change the channel when all was said and done. The NFC Championship game on FOX landed at number three for the year with 42.4 million viewers who tuned in to watch the Eagles and the Vikings battle it out. Landing at No. 4 was the NFC playoff game between the Saints and the Vikings which brought in 35.7 million viewers.
THE @EAGLES ARE SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS! #SBLII pic.twitter.com/AxVj9LlXCI
— NFL (@NFL) February 5, 2018
Things in the top 10 list took a turn at No. 5, which went to NBC’s This is Us. This single broadcast also came on February 4 as it followed the Super Bowl. The Season 2, Episode 14 telecast was the follow up to the fateful episode where Jack lost his life in the fire the week before.
Landing at No. 6 was the Opening Ceremonies for the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. The ceremonies racked in 29.2 million viewers in total. The College Football Championship came in at No. 7 with 27.8 million viewers who watched Alabama ultimately top Georgia.
2018 will be a hard year to top! https://t.co/B7ghWfck6z
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) December 30, 2018
Things shifted away from sports for No. 8, which went to the broadcast of the 90th Academy Awards on ABC. Host Jimmy Kimmel drew in 27.4 million viewers. Standing at No. 9 was the premiere of Roseanne on ABC with 27.2 million viewers. Rounding out the top 10 was the AFC Divisional Playoff on January 13 between the Titans and Patriots. The game brought in 26.8 million viewers.
