These Are the 50 Most-Watched TV Shows of the 2014-15 Season

Update, Jan. 4, 2016 | For a full look at the top shows of 2015, see our latest coverage:

2015’s Most-Watched Television Shows

Football, Cookie and zombies battle for the top spot in a big year for television.

Highs and Lows: Ranking 2015 Winners and Losers

Here’s the ranker of every ad-supported broadcast and cable network in 2015 (with the exception of certain digital networks, as well as cable networks that aren’t measured by Nielsen), according to total viewers.

And the Most Popular On Demand Shows of the Year Are …

We explain how the on-demand game changed in 2015

Below, our original story on the 2014-15 TV season winners and losers.

The Big Bang Theory is still blowing up ratings records. At the end of its eighth season, the CBS sitcom led all primetime shows, broadcast or cable, with 21.3 million weekly viewers (including seven days of DVR use and video-on-demand), a hair above two more perennial ratings faves: NBC’s Sunday Night Football and CBS’s NCIS, both with 21 million viewers. The
most-watched cable series of all time, AMC’s The Walking Dead, pulled in 19.9 million viewers.

Before production on the new season gets underway, here’s a final look at some of the hits and misses of 2014–2015, followed by our complete list of the 50 most-watched shows of the season.

WINNERS

Fox’s Empire and CBS’s NCIS: New Orleans In the advertiser-coveted demographic of viewers age 18–49, Empire was not only the No. 1 new show (9 million viewers), but also the No. 2 scripted show, after The Walking Dead. In total viewers, NCIS: New Orleans was the top freshman show.

Football Sunday Night Football, CBS and NFL Network’s simulcast of Thursday Night Football, and ESPN’s Monday Night Football all scored touchdowns with fans, landing in the Top 20. The season’s top cable airing was ESPN’s College Football Championship (Ohio State vs. Oregon), which drew 33.7 million viewers.

Super Producers All four of Chuck Lorre’s comedies are among the Top 50 shows: The Big Bang Theory, Mom, Mike & Molly, and the now-completed Two and a Half Men. Shonda Rhimes (How to Get Away With Murder, Scandal, and Grey’s Anatomy), Dick Wolf (Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., and Law & Order: SVU), and Mark Burnett (Survivor and two editions of The Voice) each have three.

ABC’s Wednesday comedy lineup The Middle, The Goldbergs, Modern Family, and Black-ish made the Top 50, solidifying the network’s family-sitcom strategy and paving the way for more family comedies to debut next season. Black-ish was also the top-rated new comedy among viewers 18–49 (4.1 million).

LOSERS

Fox’s The Following, ABC’s Resurrection, and CBS’s The Millers It’s rough to be canceled after a single season. It’s even tougher to land on the trash heap after Season 2 or 3. These three series had solid freshman years but didn’t live up to their early potential and were handed pink slips.

CBS’s Stalker While the critically panned show attracted a respectably-sized audience (10.1 million), it was still canceled—landing the dubious distinction of being the only new series in the Top 50 to get the ax. The dark subject matter was not advertiser-friendly and CBS didn’t own the show, making it easier for the network to cancel it. That capped a rough year for executive producer Kevin Williamson, who also ran The Following.

The CW’s Masters of Illusion The magic show was the least-watched primetime series of the year among the broadcast networks, pulling in just 906,000 total viewers.

TOP 50 SHOWS, TOTAL VIEWERS

America’s most-watched series of the 2014-2015 season are …

TOP 50 SHOWS, ADULTS 18-49

America’s most-watched series of the 2014-2015 season in the key advertising demographic (in millions watching) are …