“Sunday Night Football” is the most-watched show on broadcast TV — at least on the night it airs — for the sixth straight season.
Although viewership was down about 8 percent year to year — 19.63 million this season vs. 21.3 million in 2015-16 — NBC’s Sunday primetime NFL game still leads the same-day viewership rankings by a healthy margin. It drew 2.6 million more viewers than the No. 2 program, NBC’s “Thursday Night Football” broadcast (17 million).
“NCIS” was the top non-sports show of the season with an average of 14.63 million viewers.
See also: Final same day adults 18-49 ratings for 2016-17
The six-year streak for “Sunday Night Football” ties the longest ever for a show. “American Idol” was the most-watched show for six seasons from 2005-06 through 2010-11.
All figures below are live plus same-day ratings for original episodes during the Nielsen-measured TV season from Sept. 19, 2016-May 24, 2017. Episodes of shows that aired outside those dates are excluded, as are summer shows that aired episodes during the season.
| Rank | Show | Network | Viewers (000s) |
| 1 | Sunday Night Football | NBC | 19,634 |
| 2 | Thursday Night Football | NBC | 16,999 |
| 3 | NCIS | CBS | 14,631 |
| 4 | Thursday Night Football | CBS | 14,508 |
| 5 | The Big Bang Theory | CBS | 14,030 |
| 6 | The OT | FOX | 13,592 |
| 7 | 60 Minutes | CBS | 11,935 |
| 8 | Bull | CBS | 11,385 |
| 9 | Football Night in America Pt 3 | NBC | 10,827 |
| 10 | The Voice – Monday | NBC | 10,551 |
| 11 | Dancing With the Stars | ABC | 10,434 |
| 12 | The Voice – Tuesday | NBC | 10,322 |
| 13 | NCIS: Los Angeles | CBS | 10,125 |
| 14 | Blue Bloods | CBS | 9,947 |
| 15 | This Is Us | NBC | 9,854 |
| 16 | NCIS: New Orleans | CBS | 9,570 |
| 17 | Hawaii Five-0 | CBS | 9,249 |
| 18 | Little Big Shots | NBC | 9,125 |
| 19 | Survivor | CBS | 8,424 |
| 20 | Madam Secretary | CBS | 8,287 |
| 21 | Grey’s Anatomy | ABC | 7,851 |
| 22 | MacGyver | CBS | 7,722 |
| 23 | Kevin Can Wait | CBS | 7,618 |
| 24 | Empire | FOX | 7,616 |
| 25 | Mom | CBS | 7,610 |
| 26 | The Great Indoors | CBS | 7,481 |
| 27 | Criminal Minds | CBS | 7,468 |
| 28 | The Bachelor | ABC | 7,370 |
| 29 | Scorpion | CBS | 7,232 |
| 30 | Chicago Fire | NBC | 6,951 |
| 31 | Modern Family | ABC | 6,898 |
| 32 | Chicago Med | NBC | 6,658 |
| 33 | Lethal Weapon | FOX | 6,534 |
| 34 | Chicago PD | NBC | 6,470 |
| 35 | Last Man Standing | ABC | 6,411 |
| 36 | Man with a Plan | CBS | 6,329 |
| 37 | Superior Donuts | CBS | 6,244 |
| 38 | Life in Pieces | CBS | 6,169 |
| 39 | Saturday Night College Football | ABC | 6,095 |
| 40 | Hunted | CBS | 6,091 |
| 41 | The Goldbergs | ABC | 6,044 |
| 42 | The Middle | ABC | 6,042 |
| 43 | Code Black | CBS | 5,971 |
| 44 | Chicago Justice | NBC | 5,952 |
| 45 | The Wall | NBC | 5,881 |
| 46 | Designated Survivor | ABC | 5,844 |
| 47 | Law & Order: SVU | NBC | 5,798 |
| 48 | Undercover Boss | CBS | 5,699 |
| 49 | 2 Broke Girls | CBS | 5,624 |
| 50 | Scandal | ABC | 5,615 |
| 51 | Pure Genius | CBS | 5,387 |
| 52 | Speechless | ABC | 5,372 |
| 53 | The Blacklist | NBC | 5,313 |
| 54 | Football Night in America Pt 2 | NBC | 5,196 |
| 55 | American Housewife | ABC | 5,182 |
| 56 | Black-ish | ABC | 5,178 |
| 57 | Shark Tank | ABC | 5,140 |
| 58 | Taken | NBC | 5,125 |
| 59 | America’s Funniest Home Videos | ABC | 5,070 |
| 60 | The Odd Couple | CBS | 4,931 |
| 61 | The Great Christmas Light Fight | ABC | 4,861 |
| 62 | Elementary | CBS | 4,852 |
| 63 | Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders | CBS | 4,851 |
| 64 | Blindspot | NBC | 4,785 |
| 65 | Dateline – Friday | NBC | 4,676 |
| 66 | Doubt | CBS | 4,667 |
| 67 | Timeless | NBC | 4,618 |
| 68 | How to Get Away with Murder | ABC | 4,607 |
| 69 | Dr. Ken | ABC | 4,411 |
| 70 | Shades of Blue | NBC | 4,374 |
| 71 | 20/20 | ABC | 4,325 |
| 72 | Star | FOX | 4,225 |
| 73 | 48 Hours | CBS | 4,219 |
| 74 | The Great American Baking Show | ABC | 4,160 |
| 75 | Grimm | NBC | 4,150 |
| 76 | The Simpsons | FOX | 4,147 |
| Dateline Saturday Mystery | NBC | 4,147 | |
| 78 | The Good Place | NBC | 4,108 |
| 79 | The Blacklist: Redemption | NBC | 4,044 |
| 80 | The New Celebrity Apprentice | NBC | 4,004 |
| 81 | To Tell the Truth | ABC | 3,997 |
| 82 | 24: Legacy | FOX | 3,983 |
| 83 | The Amazing Race | CBS | 3,980 |
| 84 | Notorious | ABC | 3,973 |
| 85 | Superstore | NBC | 3,948 |
| 86 | Trial & Error | NBC | 3,863 |
| 87 | Fresh Off the Boat | ABC | 3,856 |
| 88 | Lucifer | FOX | 3,715 |
| 89 | Conviction | ABC | 3,571 |
| 90 | Masterchef Junior | FOX | 3,549 |
| 91 | Match Game | ABC | 3,519 |
| 92 | Hell’s Kitchen | FOX | 3,476 |
| 93 | Shots Fired | FOX | 3,475 |
| 94 | Ransom | CBS | 3,457 |
| 95 | APB | FOX | 3,419 |
| 96 | Training Day | CBS | 3,406 |
| 97 | First Dates | NBC | 3,384 |
| 98 | Gotham | FOX | 3,374 |
| 99 | Great News | NBC | 3,348 |
| 100 | The Catch | ABC | 3,266 |
| 101 | Secrets and Lies | ABC | 3,261 |
| 102 | Bones | FOX | 3,226 |
| 103 | Once Upon a Time | ABC | 3,184 |
| 104 | Caught on Camera | NBC | 3,091 |
| 105 | The Real O’Neals | ABC | 3,051 |
| 106 | Emerald City | NBC | 3,033 |
| 107 | Pitch | FOX | 3,025 |
| 108 | Rosewood | FOX | 3,019 |
| 109 | Imaginary Mary | ABC | 2,964 |
| 110 | The MIck | FOX | 2,959 |
| 111 | NBA Saturday Primetime | ABC | 2,948 |
| 112 | The Toy Box | ABC | 2,875 |
| 113 | The Flash | CW | 2,843 |
| 114 | Family Guy | FOX | 2,823 |
| 115 | Quantico | ABC | 2,780 |
| 116 | Son of Zorn | FOX | 2,776 |
| 117 | Prison Break | FOX | 2,649 |
| 118 | People Icons | ABC | 2,638 |
| 119 | Supergirl | CW | 2,363 |
| 120 | FOX College Football | FOX | 2,343 |
| 121 | Agents of SHIELD | ABC | 2,337 |
| 122 | Powerless | NBC | 2,297 |
| 123 | My Kitchen Rules | FOX | 2,264 |
| 124 | Time After Time | ABC | 2,200 |
| 125 | The Last Man on Earth | FOX | 2,145 |
| 126 | Bob’s Burgers | FOX | 2,136 |
| 127 | Brooklyn Nine-Nine | FOX | 2,109 |
| 128 | New Girl | FOX | 2,056 |
| 129 | American Crime | ABC | 1,933 |
| 130 | Sleepy Hollow | FOX | 1,918 |
| 131 | The Exorcist | FOX | 1,912 |
| 132 | NBA Countdown | ABC | 1,887 |
| 133 | Kicking and Screaming | FOX | 1,874 |
| 134 | Legends of Tomorrow | CW | 1,816 |
| 135 | Arrow | CW | 1,758 |
| 136 | Supernatural | CW | 1,677 |
| 137 | Making History | FOX | 1,550 |
| 138 | Scream Queens | FOX | 1,439 |
| 139 | You the Jury | FOX | 1,372 |
| 140 | Riverdale | CW | 1,045 |
| 141 | The Vampire Diaries | CW | 994 |
| 142 | Jane the Virgin | CW | 961 |
| 143 | The 100 | CW | 958 |
| 144 | The Originals | CW | 952 |
| 145 | Frequency | CW | 936 |
| 146 | iZombie | CW | 911 |
| 147 | No Tomorrow | CW | 794 |
| 148 | Reign | CW | 698 |
| 149 | Crazy Ex-Girlfriend | CW | 548 |
Source: The Nielsen Company.
