The Most-Watched TV Programming of 2024
With 2024 coming to a close, in lieu of our regular weekly snapshot, we’re taking a look at the top TV programs by watch-time for the year as a whole (Jan. 1 through Dec. 15, 2024). Per usual, the data comes from Inscape, is linear, live TV only and includes all episode types (new and reruns). Rankings are by percent share duration (i.e., time spent watching).
Sports was the name of the game in TV viewership this year (shocker, we know). And not only did audiences have the usual football, basketball, baseball, golf, etc, this year also brought the 2024 Paris Olympics — which scored enough watch-time to take third place on the ranking with a 0.90% viewership share. That wasn’t enough to unseat NFL and college football, though; both remain in first and second place, respectively, year-over-year, and each saw their viewership share rise vs. 2023.
Major League Baseball was another winner, taking fourth place with 0.82% of minutes watched, up from No. 5 (0.75%) in 2023.
On the basketball court, men’s college games jump from No. 33 to No. 18 year-over-year (0.48% viewership share), while the NBA slips from No. 12 to No. 14 (0.51%).
It was a big year for Fox News: The network owns five programs on the chart, with all seeing increased viewership shares and chart positions compared to 2023. Fox & Friends captured the most watch-time of the bunch (0.59%), while Jesse Watters Primetime and The Five have the biggest ranking position leaps.
Thanks to regular rerun marathons on TBS, The Big Bang Theory is a year-over-year ranking newcomer, landing at No. 15 (up from No. 27 in 2023).
On the TV network side of things, NBC is the 2024 winner — get the details on The Measure.
