Sports, Led By NBA Finals, Dominate Weekly TV Watch-Time 

Welcome to our weekly snapshot of TV by the numbers, highlighting the most-watched shows and networks for June 5-11, 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 finals remain in first place week-over-week, with the two games between the Miami Heat and Denver Nuggets capturing a total of 1.57% of all minutes watched on TV. Notably, six of the top 10 programs are sports related, with all except PGA Tour golf making gains on the ranking compared to last week. 

Some additional insights about the top programming on TV:

  • The first three games of the 2023 Stanley Cup Final between the Florida Panthers and the Vegas Golden Knights accounted for 0.64% of watch-time, putting it at No. 11.

  • Amid a week that saw the departure of CNN Chairman and CEO Chris Licht plus Donald Trump’s announcement of his own indictment, it’s not surprising that some news programs saw a bump: CBS Mornings inches up a spot to No. 15 and ABC World News Tonight With David Muir moves into No. 22 (up from No. 24 previously), while CNN News Central takes No. 23 (up from No. 26) and America’s Newsroom lands at No. 25, up from No. 36 previously. 

  • Additional week-over-week ranking newcomers include Chicago Fire, Gunsmoke and Blue Bloods, which each had increases in watch-time due to rerun marathons on various cable networks. 

  • Only three programs saw week-over-week decreases: PGA Tour golf, which slips to 10th from third previously, the 2023 Women’s College World Series (down to no. 16 from No. 12) and The Golden Girls (No. 24, down from No. 20). 

On the network side of things, ABC remains in first place week-over-week but increased its viewership share from 7.22% to 7.58%, thanks in part to the NBA finals. CBS also maintains its ranking position while growing its share from 6.26% to 6.36%, with news programs, PGA Tour golf and the 76th Annual Tony Awards contributing to watch-time. 

Additional insights around the most-watched networks from June 5-11:

  • MSNBC and CNN have the largest position increases, with the former moving from No. 12 to No. 7 week-over-week, while the latter jumps into No. 11 from No. 17. 

  • Bravo inches up from No. 21 to No. 18 with 1.22% of watch-time, fueled in part by The Real Housewives of Orange County

  • While they maintain their ranking positions, NBC, ESPN, ION and TBS all saw increases in watch-time compared to the previous week. 

  • Discovery Channel was the sole week-over-week ranking newcomer, moving up from No. 27 to No. 25 with a 0.97% viewership share.

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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