Welcome to our weekly snapshot of TV by the numbers, highlighting the most-watched shows and networks for September 23-29, 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).

In this age of social media and disinformation, the importance of trusted news sources — especially when lives are literally on the line — cannot be downplayed. As Hurricane Helene bore down on the Southeastern U.S. late last week, many viewers turned on The Weather Channel to track progress. That tune-in resulted in TWC landing among the top 10 networks by watch-time, and catapulted America’s Morning Headquarters into the top 15 programs. The network’s Weather Unfiltered and Storm Center also saw considerable bumps in viewership share, but not enough to make the ranking (No. 26 and No. 46, respectively). 

A few more highlights around the top TV programming: 

• Football continues its September domination, with NFL and college games capturing a combined 13.08% viewership share. 

• Elsewhere in sports, the 2024 Presidents Cup putts into fourth place with 0.97% of watch-time, while the first round of the WNBA playoff games claimed a 0.44% viewership share (No. 18). 

• Fueled by reruns on ION, Chicago Fire rises from No. 33 previously to No. 19.

• NBC Nightly News With Lester Holt was another week-over-week ranking newcomer, landing at No. 25. 

Check out the TV networks ranking over on The Measure.