U.S. Open ParTees Atop Inscape’s Ranking of Most-Watched TV Programs

Welcome to our weekly snapshot of TV by the numbers, highlighting the most-watched shows and networks for June 12-18, 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).

The NBA has finally been dethroned, although the final Nuggets vs. Heat game on June 12 still managed to make the top five programs by watch-time. But now at the top of the ranking in its place? The 2023 U.S. Open, which captured more than four times the minutes watched as the second-place program, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. 

Some additional insights about the top programming on TV:

• Baseball, both MLB and the men’s college world series, make the top 10 programs by watch-time, with 0.90% and 0.75% viewership shares, respectively. 

• Celebrity Family Feud jumps into the ranking at No. 15, fueled by rerun marathons across BET, ABC and BET Her. The new season premieres July 9. 

• Multiple talk and news programs inch up the chart, including Good Morning America, Today, CBS Mornings, CNN News Central, ABC World News Tonight With David Muir and America’s Newsroom. Meanwhile, Morning Joe is a ranking newcomer, going from No. 35 to No. 25 week-over-week

• Other new faces on the chart include House Hunters (No. 16 with 0.50% of minutes watched), Forensic Files (No. 18, 0.46%) and Chicago P.D. (No. 24, 0.42%). 

Fueled by the U.S. Open, NBC snags first place on the network ranking with 7.83% of minutes watched, up from third the previous week. As a result, both ABC and CBS are bumped down a notch.

Additional insights around the most-watched networks from June 12-18:

• Although the No. 4-8 networks retain their chart positions week-over-week, all but ION saw decreases in minutes watched. 

• Paramount Network and USA Network had the biggest ranking increases compared to the previous week: USA Network moves from No. 14 to No. 9 with 2.10% of minutes watched, thanks in part to the U.S. Open. Paramount lands at No. 17 (up from No. 24) with 1.30% viewership share, fueled by reruns of Yellowstone and Two and a Half Men. 

• Notably, there were no week-over-week ranking newcomers.