“Jeopardy” maintained its status as the most-watched syndication series on television in its premiere week, debuting with 7.5 million viewers.
That’s a 4% increase from its premiere week viewership the year before, according to Live + Same Day data from Nielsen. The Ken Jennings-hosted trivia show was one of seven produced by CBS Media Ventures to make the top 10 most-watched syndicated series during the week of Sept. 8-14. The other six were “Wheel of Fortune” at No. 2, “Inside Edition” at No. 4, “Entertainment Tonight” at No. 5, “Hot Bench” at No. 6, “The Drew Barrymore Show” at No. 8 and “Flip Side” at No. 9.
Of those seven, five achieved year-over-year premiere week growth. Along with the 4% bump for “Jeopardy,” “The Drew Barrymore Show” increased 8% to 1.3 million viewers, becoming the No. 2 syndicated talk show after “Live With Kelly and Mark.” “Hot Bench,” the top syndicated court show, achieved its best premiere week in four years, improving on last year by 15% to reach 2.1 million viewers. “Inside Edition” led syndicated newsmagazine series, growing by 1% to reach 3 million viewers, and “Flip Side” jumped by 17% from its first season to reach 1 million viewers.
It should be noted that preemptions were significant throughout premiere week, with syndicated series bumped to make room for Monday Night Football and the 24th anniversary of 9/11, which are standard at this time of year, in addition to as coverage of both the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Without those factors, viewership of syndicated series would have been higher.
