Primetime Ratings: ESPYs Down But ABC Prevails

ABC got top spot in Wednesday prime ratings, with the 2019 ESPYs leading the net to a 0.9 in viewers 18-49, per the Nielsen overnights, and a 5 share. In second was CBS at 0.7/4.

ABC had the ESPY Awards, saluting the best and brightest in sports, on throughout prime. Tracy Morgan hosted at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

Last year’s ESPYs did a 0.9. In 2017, they tallied a 1.4 and in 2016 a 1.6.

CBS had Love Island at 0.6, same as it opened to the night before. Big Brother lost 9% for a 1.0 and a SWAT repeat filled out the rest of prime.

Fox got a 0.6/4. MasterChef did a level 0.7 and First Responders Live grew 25% for a 0.5.

NBC and Telemundo both scored a 0.5/3. NBC had repeats of Ellen’s Game of Games and Songland, then The InBetween went up 33% to 0.4.

On Telemundo, Betty en NY got a 0.5 and La Reina del Sur a 0.7. The day before, Betty landed a 0.5 and La Reina a 0.6.

Univision scored a 0.4/2, with La Reina Soy Yo and La Rosa de Guadalupe both rating a 0.4.

The CW scored a 0.3/1. A Penn & Teller: Fool Us rerun led into Jane the Virgin at a flat 0.2. 

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.