• by Wayne Friedman , 3 hours ago

Nearly two months in, the new TV season -- with the new Nielsen Big Data + Panel measurement in tow -- has seen a 8% rise in impressions to 446.5 billion among nine top TV networks, according to estimates from EDO Ad EnGage.

Advertising revenue is up 5% to $3.7 billion, with airings gaining 8% to 266,120 for the period September 22 through November 13.

Fox Television Network and NBC Television Network led the group with $738.9 million and $712.8 million in advertising revenue, respectively.

Those networks, as well as ABC and ESPN, have seen gains of 10% ($630.2 million) and 15% ($381.8 million), respectively versus a year ago, due to NFL programming in particular.

Non-sports cable networks had Fox News Channel as a major gainer -- up 15% to $196.7 million -- followed by HGTV at $180.5 million (slipping 9% from a year ago). CNN grew 21% to $131.8 million.

For the most recent reporting week, Nielsen Big Data + Plus measurement NBC led in average prime-time viewers with 5.1 million, followed by ABC at 4.6 million, CBS with 3.8 million and Fox Television Network at 2.1 million.

Among cable TV networks, Fox News Channel came in at 2.16 million, with ESPN next at 1.66 million, MSNBC at 1.26 million and CNN at 786,000.