College Football National Championship; The Traitors Getty Images; Peacock Audiences spent quite a lot of time watching television in January, Nielsen says. According to the measurement company's latest monthly report, TV viewing was up 3.7% over December to a 12-month high, fueled mostly by sports. Thanks to a massive surge in sports watching, cable TV captured the largest increase in monthly viewing. ESPN alone saw an 82% uptick in viewing, thanks in large part to the network's coverage of the College Football Playoffs. Overall viewing was up 3.