Welcome to our weekly snapshot of TV by the numbers, highlighting the most-watched shows and networks for August 19-25, 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).

Last week’s historic Democratic National Convention had it all: Passionate speakers and activists, beloved actors and TV personalities, musicians — and, as you’ve probably heard, a rumored surprise guest (Is it Bey?! TayTay?!) who never materialized, but may have helped boost watch-time on Thursday night. Speaking of watch-time, the DNC captured a combined 4.87% viewership share across all networks for the week, notably higher than the RNC’s 2.96% share from earlier this summer. Looking at the DNC broadcasts from specific networks, MSNBC’s had the highest share (1.92%), followed by CNN’s (1.38%). 

Some more insights around the most-watched TV programming: 

• NFL preseason games accounted for 2.93% of minutes watched, up from 2.48% the previous week. 

• College football kicked off with four Week 0 games on Saturday, Aug. 24, capturing a 1.05% viewership share. 

• On the baseball front, MLB games scored 1.80% minutes watched, just ahead of the Little League World Series (1.69%).

• Week-over-week ranking newcomers included CNN News Central, C-SPAN’s Campaign 2024 and the NASCAR Cup Series. 

See which TV networks captured the most watch-time on The Measure.