For the week's top 25 individual cable programs click here.
With more college football bowls there was no doubt that ESPN would lead in primetime with both adults 18-49 and total viewers for the week ending January 8, 2012.
In fact, in a rare upset ESPN won out over Nickelodeon in total day total viewership (Disney edged out Nickelodeon in total day viewing too, which has happened a couple of times recently).
Prime-time Average Viewers (Live+SD) Week Ending January 8, 2012
| Net | (000) |
| ESPN | 5409 |
| DSNY | 2926 |
| USA | 2670 |
| HIST | 2115 |
| TBSC | 1956 |
| FOXN | 1849 |
| A&E | 1816 |
| TNT | 1714 |
| DISC | 1522 |
| FOOD | 1453 |
| FAM | 1257 |
| TRU | 1229 |
| FX | 1213 |
| HGTV | 1189 |
| MTV | 1172 |
| ADSM | 1133 |
| AMC | 1104 |
| SYFY | 1102 |
| TLC | 1069 |
| LIFE | 1055 |
| NAN | 935 |
| BRAV | 884 |
| TVLD | 867 |
| VH1 | 802 |
| SPK | 798 |
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Adults 18-49 Prime-time Average (Live+SD)
| Net | (000) |
| ESPN | 2356 |
| TBSC | 1162 |
| USA | 964 |
| HIST | 942 |
| A&E | 910 |
| DISC | 800 |
| TNT | 773 |
| MTV | 747 |
| FX | 681 |
| TRU | 664 |
| FOOD | 663 |
| FAM | 576 |
| BRAV | 551 |
| DSNY | 549 |
| VH1 | 531 |
| LIFE | 514 |
| TLC | 505 |
| ADSM | 500 |
| CMDY | 485 |
| SYFY | 431 |
| HGTV | 424 |
| EN | 420 |
| SPK | 396 |
| BET | 346 |
| NAN | 329 |
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Total Day Average Viewers (Live+SD)
| Net | (000) |
| ESPN | 1991 |
| DSNY | 1865 |
| NICK | 1812 |
| USA | 1390 |
| ADSM | 1210 |
| TNT | 1118 |
| FOXN | 1084 |
| HIST | 1037 |
| NAN | 1036 |
| TOON | 1016 |
| A&E | 949 |
| TBSC | 938 |
| FOOD | 762 |
| DISC | 752 |
| HGTV | 749 |
| FX | 711 |
| FAM | 661 |
| AMC | 640 |
| TVLD | 635 |
| MTV | 625 |
| TRU | 595 |
| LIFE | 575 |
| ID | 552 |
| TLC | 548 |
| NKJR | 547 |
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Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2012 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
