The same formula of Monday Night Football, NASCAR and miscellaneous College Football games kept ESPN plantedat the top of the cable primetime adults 18-49 ratings and average viewership rankings. USA was second in both adults 18-49 and average viewership in primetime.
Expect ESPN to stay at or near the top of the cable ratings as long as football season continues. It could be challenged for a few weeks if TBS gets a long series during the baseball playoffs which begin this week.
SpongeBob doesn't care who is in the baseball playoffs, as Nickelodeon remained at the top of the total day average viewership rankings.
For the week's top 25 individual cable programs click here.
Prime-time Average Viewers (Live+SD) Week of September 27 - October 3, 2010
| Network | (000s) |
| ESPN | 3,614 |
| USA | 2,515 |
| DSNY | 2,512 |
| FOXN | 1,983 |
| NAN | 1,558 |
| TNT | 1,503 |
| HIST | 1,473 |
| TBSC | 1,464 |
| A&E | 1,405 |
| TOON | 1,295 |
| MTV | 1,279 |
| HGTV | 1,133 |
| FX | 1,128 |
| TLC | 1,104 |
| SYFY | 1,084 |
| FOOD | 1,048 |
| TRU | 995 |
| FAM | 956 |
| CMDY | 915 |
| DISC | 895 |
| AMC | 892 |
| LIFE | 873 |
| MSNB | 801 |
| SPK | 779 |
| TVLD | 779 |
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Adults 18-49 Prime-time Average (Live+SD)
| Network | (000s) |
| ESPN | 1,813 |
| USA | 928 |
| TBSC | 860 |
| MTV | 841 |
| HIST | 693 |
| FX | 635 |
| TNT | 612 |
| A&E | 591 |
| CMDY | 554 |
| TLC | 533 |
| DSNY | 501 |
| FOOD | 501 |
| SYFY | 497 |
| TRU | 485 |
| DISC | 453 |
| FAM | 444 |
| SPK | 429 |
| NAN | 429 |
| EN | 408 |
| LIFE | 407 |
| HGTV | 391 |
| TOON | 333 |
| BRAV | 319 |
| AMC | 301 |
| FOXN | 280 |
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Total Day Average Viewers (Live+SD)
| Network | (000s) |
| NICK | 1,978 |
| DSNY | 1,574 |
| NAN | 1,477 |
| ESPN | 1,395 |
| USA | 1,207 |
| TNT | 1,169 |
| ADSM | 1,132 |
| FOXN | 1,099 |
| TOON | 987 |
| A&E | 771 |
| TBSC | 759 |
| HIST | 735 |
| TRU | 661 |
| HGTV | 653 |
| FOOD | 629 |
| FX | 598 |
| MTV | 596 |
| DISC | 588 |
| TVLD | 558 |
| LIFE | 543 |
| NKJR | 529 |
| CMDY | 529 |
| TLC | 517 |
| AMC | 503 |
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Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2010 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
Cable Channel Abbreviations: NICK = Nickelodeon, NAN = Nick At Nite, TOON = Cartoon Network, ADSM = Adult Swim, TRU = truTV, LIFE = Lifetime, NKJR - Nick Jr., FAM = ABC Family, TVLD = TV Land, FOXN = Fox News, TBSC = TBS, DISC = Discovery
