Women’s College Basketball Cracks Top 20 For Watch-Time: TV By the Numbers

Here’s a snapshot of TV by the numbers for the week of Feb. 27 through Mar. 5, highlighting the most-watched shows and networks with data from Inscape, the currency-grade smart TV ACR data provider and data technology division of Vizio, with insights from a panel of more than 20 million opted-in TVs. 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).

For the first time this season, women’s college basketball makes it into the ranking of the most-watched programs, landing at No. 17 with 0.48% of watch-time for the week. Meanwhile, men’s college basketball and NBA games hold steady in first and second place, respectively. 

Some additional insights about the top programming on TV:

  • Watch-time for men’s college basketball had a slight week-over-week decrease, down to 2.28% from 2.37% previously, while NBA saw an increase — up to 2.04% from 1.38% the week before. 

  • Aside from women’s college basketball, week-over-week ranking newcomers include SpongeBob SquarePants (No. 22 with 0.44% of watch-time) and The Big Bang Theory (No. 23, 0.42%). 

  • PGA Tour golf and Blue Bloods had the most notable week-over-week ranking increases, with the former jumping into fourth place with 0.96% of minutes watched (from No. 8 previously), while the latter moved from No. 17 up at No. 11 (0.56%). 

  • Although they each slipped in the rankings, Good Morning America, Today, Friends and NCIS all saw modest increases in watch-time compared to the previous week.

After a week in second place, CBS is back on top of the network ranking with 7.35% of watch-time, an increase from the previous week’s 6.52%. ABC slips to No. 2, but also saw an increase in minutes watched — up to 7.28% from 6.90% the week before. 

Additional insights around the most-watched networks from Feb. 27 through Mar. 5:

  • USA Network and TNT both move up two positions from their previous spots, into No. 13 and No. 17, respectively. USA was buoyed by reruns of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, while TNT benefitted from NBA games. 

  • Although they retain their ranking position week-over-week, NBC, Fox News Channel and ESPN all had increases in watch-time. 

  • Week-over-week ranking newcomers include TLC, which came in at No. 24, up from No. 27 previously, and Bravo, which moved up to No. 25 from No. 30. 

Eleanor Semeraro

Eleanor is an entertainment analyst and marketing strategist with a passion for all things TV and social media. She’s a regular TV[R]EV contributor and consults for small businesses within the advertising and entertainment data analytics ecosystem.

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