NBC’s live telecast of the 2022 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has become the network’s highest-rated and most-viewed entertainment program of the year, drawing 5.5 in the 18-49 demographic and averaging 22.3 million watchers.
Overall, the airing of the beloved annual fest — which was opened by actress Lea Michele, currently starring as Fanny Brice in Broadway’s “Funny Girl” — earned a 7.2 in ratings and netted 27.7 million viewers, when factoring in digital, streaming on Peacock and encore viewing. These figures are up from the year prior and brought in the highest viewership numbers in five years, per the network.
On Peacock, the parade was the most popular entertainment simulstream event ever, more than doubling its reach when comparing it with the 2021 parade.
Per last year’s Nielsen fast nationals data, the 2021 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade drew 21.7 million viewers on NBC from 9 a.m. to noon, in addition to drawing 5.5 in the demo. In the same range, 2020’s parade averaged one million less total viewers as a result of the pandemic, the annual event’s smallest TV audience since 1996. With the encore telecast, NBC garnered 25.4 million viewers and a 6.4 demo rating, which was slightly down from 2021.
In other programming on Thanksgiving Day, NBC’s “The National Dog Show Presented by Purina,” which aired immediately after the parade, netted a 2.8 in ratings and 11.2 total average million viewers, including streaming.
“The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” scored 0.90 in the demo and 3.4 million viewers, marking the best original “Tonight Show” performance in both the demo and total viewers in three years. “Late Night with Seth Meyers” drew the same in the demo and averaged 1.7 million viewers, also making it the most-watched “Late Night” in three years.
Viewership numbers for the Thanksgiving night game between the New England Patriots and the Minnesota Vikings will be released later today by NBC Sports.
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