MLB Playoffs Steal Third Place For Most-Watched TV Programming
Welcome to our weekly snapshot of TV by the numbers, highlighting the most-watched shows and networks for September 29 through October 6, 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 first few MLB Division Series games scored enough watch-time (3.32%) to claim third place on the ranking, but it couldn’t surpass football. That being said, both the NFL and college football saw week-over-week decreases in viewership share, while NFL RedZone rises up from No. 8 to No. 6 with 0.68% of minutes watched.
Some additional insights around the week’s top TV programming:
Outside of football, only two programs maintain their chart positions week-over-week: Family Feud (No. 20) and Jesse Watters Primetime (No. 21) — although both had slightly lower viewership shares compared to the previous week.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit moves into the top ten with its 0.66% viewership share fueled by reruns on USA.
Multiple news programs saw an increase in both viewership shares and ranking positions week-over-week, including chart newcomers CNN News Central (from No. 28 to No. 22), The Ingraham Angle (from No. 33 to No. 23), Dateline (from No. 34 to No. 24) and Morning Joe (from No. 31 to No. 25).
Reruns on TBS helped both The Big Bang Theory and Friends move up the ranking, with the former jumping from No. 22 to No. 14, while the latter moves from No. 23 to No. 19.
NBC wins for TV network watch-time — see the full ranking on The Measure.
