Following the past analysis of the most captivating shows on US television, we put our focus on the programs that more heavily engaged viewers in September 2023.
FOX once again secured two of the TOP 3 categories, conquering the most engaging Scripted show with 9-1-1: Lone Star’s Season 5 Premiere and the most engaging Unscripted show, with the premiere of the new season of the hit show The Masked Singer. CBS scored the top spot for a Sports program with Big Ten Football 2023’s September 2nd broadcast.
Let’s take a closer look at the Most Engaging Shows on US TV in September.
Scripted Shows: 9-1-1: Lone Star, S05E01, FOX
The premiere of 9-1-1: Lone Star’s Season 5 was much awaited since Season 4 ended in May of this year with a plot twist. The show is a 9-1-1 (2018-present) spin-off that first premiered on US television back in 2020, right at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The anticipation for Season 5 transpired into spectators’ reactions to “Panic”, the first episode of the new season, which landed the number one spot for Scripted shows in September. The premiere achieved an EIS of 573, which, compared to all TV shows, is 6% below the norm for September. Overall, the show’s fifth-season premiere was also a match with Mediaprobe’s norm for US TV in 2023.
Unscripted Shows: The Masked Singer, S10E01, FOX
The Masked Singer has been a tremendous success in the US since it premiered back in 2019, and it is the adaptation of the South Korean reality singing competition of the same name. It captivated audiences given the mystery surrounding who the celebrity contestants are behind the head-to-toe elaborate costumes.
After four months away from TV, The Masked Singer premiered its tenth season to an audience of over 5 million people across different platforms. FOX’s broadcast managed to captivate viewers once more and scored the number one spot in unscripted shows, with an EIS of 638, 12% above the norm for Unscripted shows in September and 5% above all TV shows in the same month. In general, the premiere of the tenth season of the show performed 12% better when compared to Mediaprobe’s US TV Norm for 2023.
Sports Shows: Big Ten Football 2023, CBS
September marked the start of the new football season, both in the NFL as well as in College Football. CBS has been broadcasting College Football since the 1950s, but only this year has it secured a deal to televise Big Ten football. College Football is the second most popular sport in the United States when it comes to attendance and viewership combined, surpassing baseball and basketball.
Big Ten Football’s program, which aired on September 2nd, brought viewers closer to the players and their teams, following not only their sports careers but also their personal backgrounds and lives. This resonated with the audience, and it became Mediaprobe’s most engaging sports program in September. It achieved an EIS of 795, a score 19% above the norm for Sports broadcasts during September and 31% higher than the average for all TV transmissions during that month. CBS’ Big Ten Football transmission also scored 40% above the norm for US TV in 2023 in terms of emotional impact.
If you want to find out more about the programs that engage viewers the most, you can take a closer look at our Emotional Impact Scoreboard. We update it on a weekly basis to demonstrate the latest shows we have measured. For more thorough insights, feel free to reach out to us.
