Everyone Hates Preseason Football, Except The 9.5 Million People Who Watched Colts-Steelers: TV Ratings, In Context

A weekly feature wherein we contextualize TV ratings for national sports broadcasts. Data via Nielsen and Sports Business Journal's John Ourand. Viewership numbers represent approximate number of persons tuned to a given program; ratings share refers to the percentage of all households using a television who are turned into that program.

Monday, Aug. 13: Monday Night Football; Dallas Cowboys at Oakland Raiders, preseason (ESPN): 5.4 million viewers The Closer, series finale (TNT): 9.1 million viewers

Tuesday, Aug. 14: No highly rated sporting events

Wednesday, Aug. 15: Mexico vs. United States, international soccer friendly (Univision): 4.0 million viewers Mexico vs. United States, international soccer friendly (ESPN2): 800,000 viewers America's Got Talent (NBC): 8.5 million viewers The O'Reilly Factor (Fox News Channel): 3.1 million viewers

Thursday, Aug.16: Cincinnati Bengals at Atlanta Falcons, preseason (Fox): 4.7 million viewers The Big Bang Theory, rerun (CBS): 8.0 million viewers

Friday, Aug. 17: Detroit Lions at Baltimore Ravens, preseason (Fox): 4.0 million viewers Shake It Up (Disney): 4.5 million viewers

Saturday, Aug. 18: Fox Saturday Baseball; Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees in 72% of markets, Pittsburgh Pirates at St. Louis Cardinals in others (Fox): 2.0 rating PGA Tour Wyndham Championship, third round (CBS): 1.3 rating SpongeBob SquarePants (Nickelodeon): 2.4 rating

Sunday, Aug. 19: Sunday Night Football; Indianapolis Colts at Pittsburgh Steelers (NBC): 9.5 million viewers NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Michigan (ESPN): 5.2 million viewers 60 Minutes (CBS): 7.9 million viewers