NBC’s live telecast of the 2022 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade became the network’s highest-rated and most-watched entertainment program of the year, drawing a 5.5 in the 18–49 demographic and an average of 22.3 million viewers.
Overall, the broadcast of the beloved annual celebration — which was opened by actress Lea Michele, who is currently starring as Fanny Brice in Broadway’s “Funny Girl” — earned a 7.2 in the ratings and netted 27.7 million viewers. Done, when factoring in digital, streaming and encore viewing on Peacock. These figures are up from a year earlier and brought in the highest viewership per network in five years.
On Peacock, the parade was the most popular entertainment event together, with its reach more than doubling when compared with the 2021 parade.
According to last year’s Nielsen Fast national data, the 2021 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade drew 21.7 million viewers from 9 a.m. to noon on NBC, in addition to drawing 5.5 in the demo. In the same category, the 2020 parade averaged one million fewer total viewers as a result of the pandemic, the smallest TV audience for the annual event since 1996. With the encore telecast, NBC garnered 25.4 million viewers and a 6.4 demo rating, down slightly from its 6.4 demo rating. 2021.
In other programming on Thanksgiving Day, NBC’s “The National Dog Show Present by Purina”, which aired immediately after the parade, averaged 2.8 in the rating and 11.2 total million viewers including streaming.
“The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” scored a 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 a similar average of 1.7 million viewers in the demo, making it the most-watched “Late Night” in three years.
Viewership numbers for the Thanksgiving night game between the New England Patriots and Minnesota Vikings will be released by NBC Sports later today.
