Debate Dials Up TV Watch-Time, But Couldn’t Beat Football

Welcome to our weekly snapshot of TV by the numbers, highlighting the most-watched shows and networks for September 9-15, 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).

On Sept. 10, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump took to the stage in Philadelphia for the first, and likely only, presidential debate, hosted by ABC News. Outside of sports, it was arguably one of the biggest TV nights of the week (sorry Emmys — more on that below), with ABC’s broadcast capturing enough watch-time to claim No. 6, while NBC’s debate special lands at No. 17. 

A few more highlights around the most-watched TV programming: 

• The NFL, college football and MLB retain their top three spots, although each saw its viewership share slip a bit week-over-week. 

• Two Fox News programs rise up the ranking considerably: America’s Newsroom With Bill Hemmer & Dana Perino moves from No. 19 previously to No. 11, while America Reports With John Roberts & Sandra Smith takes No. 13 (up from No. 21). 

• Week-over-week ranking newcomers include Morning Joe (No. 20), CNN News Central (No. 22) and Wheel of Fortune (No. 25). 

• Sunday’s broadcast of the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards didn’t snag enough watch-time to make the ranking (it was No. 36) — although its 0.32% viewership share was better than what the 75th Emmys, delayed until January 2024 by the Hollywood strikes and up against the NFL playoffs, received (a measly 0.17%).

Thanks largely to football, CBS moves into No. 1 on the TV network ranking — read more on The Measure.