‘Young Sheldon’ Cracks Top 15 Most-Watched Programs

Welcome to our weekly snapshot of TV by the numbers, highlighting the most-watched shows and networks for May 13-19, 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).

After seven seasons, CBS bid farewell to its hit sitcom Young Sheldon with a two-episode series finale on May 16. Earlier in the week, the network aired the show’s very first two episodes during Monday night primetime, presumably to celebrate the end of its run and get viewers pumped for the finale on Thursday. Additionally, networks including TBS ran reruns throughout the week; all in all, Young Sheldon snagged a total viewership share of 0.52% — matching what its predecessor, The Big Bang Theory (perpetually in reruns and a rankings frequent flier), received for the week. 

A few additional insights about the week’s most-watched programming: 

• The NBA continues to hold court atop the ranking, with playoff games capturing a 5.04% viewership share, a minor increase from the previous week’s 5.02%. 

• The four-day PGA Championship putted into No. 2 with 3.21% of minutes watched, while the Stanley Cup playoffs slipped from second to third place week-over-week (1.30% of watch-time). 

• Women’s sports stole a bit of the spotlight as well: Regional games of the NCAA softball tournament caught a total of 0.73% of minutes watched, enough to put it in the top ten. And the WNBA, which began its regular season on May 14, jumped into the chart at No. 23. 

There’s a new leader on the network ranking — check it out on The Measure.