The 25 Most-Watched Specials of 2024: Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, ‘New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,’ Academy Awards and Billy Joel
variety.comCynthia Littleton Business Editor America loves a parade. America also loves to learn from Oprah, to rock with Ryan Seacrest on New Year’s Eve and to belt out the hits with Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden.
The list of the year’s top 25 most-watched entertainment specials is topped by NBC’s Turkey Day telecast of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which hauled in 23.4 million viewers in Nielsen’s Live-plus-7 measure covering live viewing plus seven days of delayed viewing.
Two Oprah Winfrey-hosted specials made the list, one for ABC (coming in at No. 19) and one for CBS (No. 24). The Rose Parade, the annual New Year’s Day trek of floral floats through Pasadena, nabbed two slots on the list (No.
14 and No. 17). NBC’s national coverage grabbed 5.4 million viewers while ABC’s coverage of the parade leading in to the college football game at the Rose Bowl garnered 5.1 million.
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