Top sports programs on linear TV networks don't just earn better viewer numbers than other TV program types. They regularly score higher online engagement search scores than other TV programs.

In 2021, EDO Ad EnGage, a data-marketing measurement company, says viewers that watch “Sunday Night Football,” “Thursday Night Football” and “Monday Night Football” were 56% to 60% more likely to do related online searches of TV advertisers versus searching for advertisers of the average prime-time program.

Higher results were registered for major sports post-season playoffs and championships.

Viewers of the NFL Playoffs, the NCAA National College Championship Game, the NCAA Final Four Basketball Tournament and the NBA Finals were 61% to 87% more likely to search for TV advertisers than for the average prime-time show.

The data comes from the EDO Ad EnGage average search engagement index (SER index), which last year surveyed 16.7 million national TV airings and more than 2 billion online searches connected with TV ads on 120 networks.

The best overall program of 2021 was TV’s regularly most-viewed show of the year -- the Super Bowl. Viewers were 345% more likely to do related online searches of TV advertisers.

The top two broadcast network entertainment shows were ABCs “The Bachelor” -- which earned a 145 SER index, meaning that viewers were 45% more likely to do searches for advertisers on that series than for the average prime-time show -- followed by NBC’s “The Is Us” with a 130 index.

Looking at cable TV networks, the Paramount Network’s “Yellowstone” had a 175 index, while Food Network’s “Tournament of Champions” scored a 150.