In an especially good week for its host Steve Harvey, “Family Feud” has ascended to the No. 1 spot on the syndication ratings chart for the first time.
Nielsen estimates for the week of June 8-12 show that “Feud,” produced by FremantleNorth America and distributed by Debmar-Mercury, averaged a 6.1 household rating to edge out longtime gameshow leaders “Wheel of Fortune” (6.0) and “Jeopardy” (5.9). The Nielsen survey said “Feud” was up a big 33% vs. the same week a year ago (4.5).
“Family Feud” had tied “Jeopardy” once before, but last week marked the first time since the advent of Nielsen People-Meters in 1987 that it had caught or surpassed “Wheel of Fortune” as the most-popular gameshow in syndication. And it also had to fend off “Judge Judy” (6.0), as the long-running court show typically stands as No. 1 overall in the household ratings derby.