TNT, TBS and TruTv all rode early round coverage of the ‘March Madness’ NCAA men’s college basketball tournament to top 10 finishes among the most watched cable networks in primetime last week.
TNT’s 2.34 million viewers and TBS’ 2.25 million watchers bested all other cable networks for the week of March 16 to March 22, according to Nielsen. TruTv’s tournament coverage helped the network finish ninth, its highest finish so far in 2015.
Fox News, which had won the weekly ratings race the previous two weeks, finished third with 1.85 million viewers, followed by USA and AMC, who both averaged 1.79 million viewers for the period.
HGTV (1.5 2 million viewers); Disney Channel (1.48 million); History (1.40 million); TruTV (1.20 million) and Adult Swim (1.10 million) rounded out the top 10 most watched networks for the week.
In the total day category, Adult Swim surpassed previous category winners Nickelodeon and Disney to finish first among all cable networks on a 24-hour basis with 1.22 million viewers. Nick (1.19 million viewers); Fox News (1.08 million); Disney Channel (1.09 million) and TNT (1.07 million) followed closely behind.
AMC’s The Walking Dead and its companion series Talking Dead continued to devour audiences in leading all cable shows for the week. Live NCAA college basketball tournament games on TBS, TNT and TruTV accounted for half of the remaining eight spots among the top 10 most watched telecasts of the week.
DateShowsNetworkViewers
3/22 The Walking Dead AMC 13.7 million
3/22 Talking Dead AMC 6.0 million
3/16 WWE Monday Night Raw (9pm-10pm) USA 3.9 million
3/16 WWE Monday Night Raw (10pm-11:06pm) USA 3.9 million
3/21 NCAA College Basketball Tournament TBS 3.9 million
3/16 WWE Monday Night Raw (8pm-9pm) USA 3.8 million
3/22 NCAA College Basketball Tournament TNT 3.7 million
3/17 Rizzoli & Isles TNT 3.6 million
3/21 NCAA College Basketball Tournament TNT 3.5 million
3/22 NCAA College Basketball Tournament TruTV 3.5 million
Source Nielsen
