This is a quick snapshot of TV by the numbers for the week of Feb. 15-21, revealing the most-watched shows and networks using glass-level data from Vizio’s Inscape, and the top shows and networks by TV ad impressions with insights via iSpot.tv.
Most-Watched Shows and Networks
Via Inscape, Vizio’s TV data product with glass-level insights from a panel of more than 17 million active and opted-in smart TVs. 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).
Various sports marched up the ranking, led by college basketball which took first place for watch-time (1.19%). NBA games captured 1.15% of all minutes watched, putting it in third place, while PGA Tour golf grabbed 0.82%, securing it No. 5. NHL hockey squeaked into the ranking at No. 25 with 0.38% of all minutes watched. After a week off, Ridiculousness came back into the top 25 in seventh place, while Rizzoli & Isles jumped from No. 43 to No. 24 week-over-week.
On the network side of things, ABC and NBC both rose up the ranking, taking first and second places with 6.70% and 6.65% of watch-time, respectively, while CBS slipped to third (6.61%). Among the networks that maintained ranking positions: Fox (No. 4), ESPN (No. 9), the Discovery Channel (No. 22) and Lifetime (No. 23); Hallmark had the biggest week-over-week drop, down to No. 16 from No. 10. Bravo was the one newcomer compared to the previous week, at No. 24 with 1.07% of minutes watched.
Top Shows and Networks by TV Ad Impressions
Via iSpot.tv, the always-on TV ad measurement and attribution company. Rankings are by TV ad impressions, for new episodes only.
Impression-counts for both NBA and college basketball games stayed mostly steady week-over-week, and as such, they remained in first and second place, respectively. The Price Is Right jumped into third place with 734.1 million TV ad impressions, a 25.58% increase from the previous week. That show, along with The Young and the Restless, were the only non-sports or news programs in the top 10. Weather Channel’s live coverage of Winter Storm Shirley came in at No. 14 with 397.8 million TV ad impressions, while The Bachelor generated 330.6 million impressions, putting it at No. 22. American Idol just missed the ranking, coming in at No. 26 (292 million TV ad impressions).
Once again, CBS took first place on the network ranking with 5 billion TV ad impressions, followed by ABC (4.6 billion). Fox News was third with 4 billion, a 20.13% week-over-week increase. Bravo picked up steam, with a 16.43% increase in impressions from the previous week, thanks in part to Below Deck, while TNT rebounded compared to the week before, with 426.4 million of its 536 million TV ad impressions coming from NBA basketball games. MTV rounded out the ranking with 249.6 million TV ad impressions, fueled in part by The Challenge and Jersey Shore: Family Vacation.
