ABC’s Muir, Democratic convention on cable TV lead ratings

NEW YORK — In this pandemic season, ABC’s David Muir has emerged as broadcast television’s star of the summer.

The “World News Tonight” anchor’s nightly summary averaged 8.2 million viewers last week, more than any prime-time program on television, the Nielsen company said.

ABC’s prime-time interview of the Democratic ticket of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, conducted by Muir and Robin Roberts, reached 5.1 million viewers Sunday.

Otherwise, coverage of the Democratic National Convention on MSNBC and CNN dominated the ratings.

CBS’ prime time average of 3 million viewers topped the broadcast networks, followed by ABC at 2.6 million, NBC at 2.4 million, Univision at 1.3 million, ION Television at 1.24 million, Fox at 1.21 million and Telemundo at 1 million.

MSNBC led the cable networks with a 3.27 million average in prime time, Fox News Channel had 3.09 million, CNN had 2.77 million, TNT had 1.51 million and HGTV had 1.32 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” won the evening news ratings race, averaging 8.2 million viewers, NBC’s “Nightly News” had 6.8 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 4.9 million.

For the week of Aug. 17-23, the 20 most popular prime-time programs, their networks and viewerships:

1. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 7.23 million.

2. “Biden’s Acceptance Speech,” MSNBC, 6.24 million viewers.

3. “Democratic Convention” (Wednesday), MSNBC, 6.2 million.

4. “Democratic Convention” (Wednesday, 10 p.m.), CNN, 5.84 million.

5. “Democratic Convention” (Thursday), MSNBC, 5.69 million.

6. “Democratic Convention” (Thursday, 10 p.m.), CNN, 5.58 million.

7. “America’s Got Talent” (Tuesday), NBC, 5.579 million.

8. “Yellowstone,” Paramount, 5.16 million.

9. “America’s Got Talent” (Wednesday), NBC, 5.14 million.

10. “Biden and Harris Interview,” ABC, 5.11 million.

11. “Democratic Convention” (Wednesday, 8:56 p.m.), CNN, 4.89 million.

12. “Democratic Convention” (Monday, 10 p.m.), CNN, 4.86 million.

13. “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” ABC, 4.66 million.

14. “Democratic Convention” (Monday, 9 p.m.), CNN, 4.6 million.

15. “NCIS,” CBS, 4.59 million.

16. “Hannity” (Thursday), Fox News, 4.56 million.

17. “Democratic Convention” (Thursday, 8:46 p.m.), CNN, 4.4 million.

18. “Democratic Convention” (Monday), MSNBC, 4.38 million.

19. “Democratic Convention” (Tuesday, 9 p.m.), CNN, 4.3 million.

20. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Thursday), Fox News, 4.29 million.