USA Network, despite sustaining 8% audience erosion, captured its eighth consecutive annual primetime victory, while other top-10 cable performers, Disney Channel, A&E Network, FX and AMC, all posted viewership gains in 2013.
The “characters welcome” network averaged 2.68 million watchers from Dec. 31, 2012 to Dec. 29, 2013, according to a Disney Media Networks analysis of Nielsen data (reflecting live + 7 data until Dec. 16 and live + same-day over the balance of the period). That compares with 2.92 million viewers in Nielsen's 2012, which spanned Dec. 26, 2011 through Dec. 30, 2012.
Disney Channel placed second again, scoring with 2.44 million viewers on average, up 2% from 2.40 million in 2012. ESPN, even though it shed 6% of its audience, showed in third with 2.21 million, versus 2.34 million.
