NBA Dunks For TV Watch-Time, NHL Skates Into Second
Welcome to our weekly snapshot of TV by the numbers, highlighting the most-watched shows and networks for April 17-23, with insights from Inscape, the currency-grade smart TV ACR data provider and data technology division of Vizio. Data is linear, live TV only and includes all episode types (new and reruns). Rankings are by percent share duration (i.e., time spent watching).
Before we get into last week’s data, it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on just how much the media world was rocked in recent days: On Monday, Apr. 24, not one but two prominent cable news hosts were shown the door: Fox News gave Tucker Carlson the boot, saying last Friday’s show was his last, while CNN terminated Don Lemon after months of controversy. And this was after Sunday’s surprise announcement that NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell was leaving his role, effective immediately. That’s a lot of shake ups to kick off the week.
For the time being, Fox News Tonight will air during Tucker’s timeslot with rotating hosts, and of course we’re all wondering if they’ll take a viewership hit without Tucker holding court.
What we do know at the moment is that, per Inscape data, from Jan. 1 through Apr. 23, Tucker Carlson Tonight accounted for 6.75% of all live, linear minutes watched on Fox News, putting it in fourth place for watch-time on the network, behind Fox and Friends, America’s Newsroom and America Reports. Across all networks during that time frame, it was No. 26 on the program ranking with 0.40% of minutes watched. And for just last week, Tucker Carlson Tonight captured 0.41% of minutes watched across all networks, not quite enough to land it in the top 25 ranking below (it was No. 28). Next Tuesday we’ll take a look at how the first sans-Tucker week went for Fox News, so stay tuned.
And now, back to the week at hand: The NBA playoffs are in full swing and dominated watch-time, racking up a 5.53% viewership share from Apr. 17-23, up from 3.99% the previous week.
Some additional insights about the top programming on TV:
NHL rockets into second place with round one of the playoffs capturing 1.68% of minutes watched.
Other sports including MLB baseball and NASCAR Cup Series rise up the ranking, taking No. 9 and No. 19, respectively, while PGA Tour golf slips from No. 4 to No. 18 week-over-week.
Thanks to multiple marathons, Below Deck sails from No. 31 to No. 16, accounting for 0.49% of minutes watched during the week.
American Idol also has a notable week-over-week jump, landing at No. 11 from No. 21 previously.
On the network side of things, ABC retains first place with a modest week-over-week increase in watch-time, up to 7.34% from 7.29% previously. Top contributing programming include NBA games, Good Morning America, American Idol and ABC World News Tonight With David Muir.
Additional insights around the most-watched networks from April 17-23:
The top five networks hold steady in their positions week-over-week, although CBS, NBC and Fox News all captured slightly less watch-time, while ABC and Fox grew their share a little compared to the previous week.
TNT inches up a ranking spot, taking sixth place with 4.30% of watch-time, driven in part by NBA and NHL games.
TLC is the sole week-over-week ranking newcomer, landing at No. 25 with 0.91% of of minutes watched.
