The Women’s World Cup kicks into full gear this weekend during an otherwise light schedule of live sports telecasts 

Fox and FS1 will combine to televise all 64 games of the soccer tournament as the United States looks for its third consecutive win. Telemundo and Peacock will offer Spanish-language coverage. 

On the links, NBC, USA Network, and Golf Channel will air weekend coverage of the 151st Open Championship — or, as it’s often called in the U.S., the British Open — while CBS on Saturday offers final round coverage of the LPGA Tour Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational.

In the boxing ring, ESPN on Saturday will televise a lightweight bout between George Kambosos Jr. and Maxi Hughes. In the octagon, ESPN will air a Saturday afternoon UFC Fight Night mixed martial arts card headlined by the Tom Aspinall-Marcin Tybura heavyweight bout. 

On the racetrack, NBC on Saturday will televise the IndyCar Series Hy-Vee Homefront 250 auto race, while USA Network airs the Xfinity Explore the Pocono Mountains 225 race.

On the basketball court, ESPN on Saturday will air a WNBA doubleheader featuring the Connecticut Sun-Atlanta Dream and Las Vegas Aces-Minnesota Lynx games. CBS on Sunday will air Phoenix Mercury-Washington Mystics.  

On Sunday, Peacock will stream the San Diego Padres-Detroit Tigers baseball game, while ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball game will feature the New York Mets and the Boston Red Sox. 

Below is a snapshot of TV by the numbers for the week of July 11-17, highlighting the most-watched shows and networks using glass-level data from Vizio’s Inscape, and network and show TV ad impressions 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 19 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).

The PGA Tour’s Open Championship (British Open) scored the most watch-time on TV for the week of July 11-17. Cameron Smith’s one-stroke victory fueled the event toward 2.21% of minutes watched on the week -- over 2.5x more than the next most-watched program.

Some additional insights about the top programming on TV:

• Syndicated shows account for half of the top 10 in our ranking, led by Law & Order: Special Victims Unit at No. 2, airing on ION, USA Network, NBC and MyNetworkTV.
• NBA Summer League drives watch-time for audiences looking to get a glimpse of the Association’s top young stars, en route to 0.62% of the week’s minutes watched (No. 8 overall).
• Track and field sprints into our ranking at No. 11, thanks to the World Athletics Championships taking place in Eugene, Oregon.
• Oxygen show Snapped pops into our ranking at No. 24, after the true crime program didn’t appear among the top 50 the previous week.

NBC’s coverage of the Open Championship fuels its leap to the top of our list of most-watched networks. Following a No. 3 finish the previous week with 5.41% of watch-time, NBC scored 6.79% from July 11-17.

Additional insights around the most-watched networks from the week:

• IFC rides syndicated comedies and classic movies like A League Of Their Own from No. 9 to No. 6 week-over-week.
• USA Network hops from No. 13 to No. 7 week-over-week, courtesy of the Open Championship, Tour De France and NASCAR Cup Series.
• Family Feud helped push The CW from No. 28 to No. 24 week-over-week.
• Bravo glides from No. 24 to No. 20 week-over-week as audiences flocked to various iterations of the Below Deck franchise.

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. 

The Open Championship’s four days of action gave the PGA Tour a TV ad impressions win for the week. The golf event accounted for 3.88% of impressions from July 11-17 – more than double the share of impressions the Scottish Open earned the previous week.

More data about the top programs by TV ad impressions:

• Good Morning America retains its spot at No. 2 by impressions, but increases its week-over-week share, from 2.39% to 2.49%.
• A three-episode week drives Big Brother up from No. 25 to No. 15 week-over-week in our ranking.
• Speaking of reality TV: The Bachelorette’s season premiere -- with two Bachelorettes -- arrives at No. 25 in our ranking.
• Morning Joe’s share of TV ad impressions climbs from 0.67% to 0.90% week-over-week as the program ranks No. 23 from July 11-17.

Fox News sits at No. 1 in our ad-impressions-by-network ranking for a third straight week, delivering 12.55% of impressions (up slightly from 12.44% the previous week).

Additional insights around the top networks by impressions:

• NBC’s share of impressions leaps from 10.00% to 11.81% week-over-week, as golf delivers for advertisers.
• Peacock hit Below Deck Down Under arrived on Bravo on July 11, spurring new interest from linear TV audiences and a jump from No. 24 to No. 14 week-over-week in our ranking.
• ABC’s share of impressions grows from 10.53% to 11.95% week-over-week between The Bachelorette and a return to a normal weekly schedule following the July Fourth holiday.
• National Geographic’s share of impressions increases by more than 4x week-over-week due in part to the start of the network’s month-long SharkFest event.

NBC will be blanketing its platforms with over 200 hours of golf coverage of the 150th Open Championship — commonly known stateside as the British Open — from St. Andrews this week, including plenty of new media coverage of the Old Course.

Coverage kicks off on Golf Channel’s Golf Central with a Celebration of Champions four-hole event Monday (July 11) featuring Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth, among many others, including women's Open champion Anna Nordqvist and disabled Open winner Kipp Poppert.

If past is prologue, a strong showing by Woods will translate to strong ratings on the weekend.

Live coverage of the first two days of the actual tournament — Thursday, July 14, and Friday, July 15 — will be shared by USA Network and streaming service Peacock.

The final two days will be shared by USA, Peacock and NBC.

The broadcast/cable/streaming coverage team comprises host Mike Tirico; play-by-play Dan Hicks, Tirico and Terry Gannon; analysts Paul Azinger, Justin Leonard (1997 Open champion); tower coverage: David Feherty, Gary Koch, Peter Jacobson, Steve Sands, Curt Byrum, Tom Abbott; on-course coverage: Notah Begay III, John Wood, Mark Rolfing, Karen Strupples; interviews: Karyn Tappen, Cara Banks, Todd Lewis, and essays provided by Jimmy Roberts. ■

Our snapshot of TV by the numbers for the week of July 12-18 shines a spotlight on 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).

Though the NBA Finals are still ongoing, a new program has taken the lead in terms of minutes watched on TV. During the week of July 12-18, the Open Championship (the British Open, to some) took first place with 1.92% of watch-time. After topping the previous week’s ranking, the NBA Finals fall one spot to second, with 1.26% of minutes watched.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit remains No. 3 for the week with 1.12% of watch-time, followed by Good Morning America (0.89%) and Today (0.70%). SVU is one of numerous dramas to appear in this week’s ranking. Some of the others include NCIS (No. 9), NCIS: New Orleans (No. 10), Gunsmoke (No. 13), Law & Order (No. 19), Forensic Files (No. 24) and Criminal Minds (No. 25).

Major League Baseball was off for much of the week, but still managed 0.43% of watch-time to rank No. 18 overall. However, the 2021 MLB All-Star Game is all the way up at No. 11, with 0.52% of minutes watched. The CONCACAF Gold Cup’s group stages are a few places ahead, ranking No. 8 before the soccer event transitions to the knockout rounds that should lead to a hotly anticipated championship match between rival U.S. and Mexican national teams.

Also Read: Summer 2021 TV Premiere Dates

ABC maintains its lead in the watch-time ranking for the second week in a row, thanks in part to the NBA Finals between the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns. The network has 6.97% of total minutes watched, keeping it ahead of NBC in second place with 6.37%. CBS is in third again, with 5.29% of watch-time. Fox rides sports to leap from No. 5 to No. 4 with 4.08% of minutes watched, while Fox News rounds out the top five at 3.94%.

IFC makes the chart’s biggest week-over-week leap, from not appearing among the top 50 to placing 10th overall. Discovery Channel rides Shark Week from No. 20 to No. 15. The Golf Channel, after splitting final round coverage of the Open Championship with NBC, jumps from No. 50 to No. 23 with 1.21% of watch-time. TV Land closes out the top 25 ranking for July 12-18, at 1.16% 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. 

The NBA Finals deliver the most TV ad impressions yet again, with over 1.6 billion from July 12-18. Also topping the 1 billion impressions mark are both the 2021 Open Championship (1.4 billion) and Major League Baseball (1.1 billion). Good Morning America (872 million TV ad impressions) and Today (661 million) round out the top five.

News and talk programming makes up about 60% of this week’s top 25 shows by TV ad impressions. Sports are 20%, while reality TV is 12%. Speaking of reality TV, Big Brother and Love Island are among the biggest movers for the week, with each climbing more than five spots (Big Brother actually leaps from 23rd to 11th).

ABC stays on top of the week’s ad-impressions-by-network ranking, with over 6.2 billion from June 12-18. While ABC is airing the NBA Finals, NBC just completed the Open Championship and will be launching into Summer Olympics coverage shortly. NBC is No. 2 for the week, with 4.6 billion TV ad impressions.

Fox News edges up one spot to No. 3 with 4.13 billion impressions, followed by CBS (4.10 billion) and MSNBC (2.5 billion). Final round Open Championship coverage vaults the Golf Channel up from No. 19 to No. 11. Food Network moves from 25th up to 20th, while Investigation Discovery closes out the weekly ranking this time around.