Fox News’ coverage of the Republican and Democratic National Conventions helped the news network finish August as the most watched network in both primetime and total day, according to Nielsen.

Fox News averaged a network 3.6 million viewers in primetime for the period of July 27 to Aug. 30 to top all networks for the eighth consecutive month, according to Nielsen. MSNBC averaged 2.1 million viewers to finish second followed by CNN with 1.6 million viewers. 

HGTV was the most watched entertainment-based network during the month with 1.3 million viewers, followed by TLC with 1.2 million watchers. TNT and ESPN -- boosted by the return of live Major League Baseball and National Basketball Association games -- finished sixth and seventh respectively, followed by Hallmark Channel (889,000 viewers), TBS (861,000) and History (789,000), said Nielsen. 

On the total day front, Fox News topped the charts for the 50th straight month, averaging 1.7 million viewers and topping in order MSNBC, CNN, HGTV, and TNT, said Nielsen.  

This is a quick snapshot of TV by the numbers for the week of Aug. 24-30, revealing the most-watched shows and networks using glass-level data from Inscape, and the top shows and networks by TV ad impressions with insights via iSpot.tv.

Most-Watched Shows and Networks 

Via Inscape.tv, the TV data company with insights from a panel of more than 15 million 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).

Looking at shows, of all the minutes watched by smart TVs that Inscape measured in all dayparts, 1.94% of the time was spent on NBA games on TNT, putting it in first place for the second week in a row. Good Morning America and America’s Newsroom take second and third place, respectively, while CNN’s America's Choice 2020: Republican National Convention was in fourth place with 0.78% share duration and Weather Channel’s coverage of Hurricane Laura took fifth (0.75%).

On the network side of things, of all minutes watched last week, 7.57% of the time was spent on Fox News, 6.05% was spent on NBC and 5.48% on ABC. Fox, TNT and HGTV all inched up the ranking compared to the previous week, while The Weather Channel sped into the top 15, up from No. 48 last week.

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. 

Once again, NBA basketball leads TV ad impressions by a wide margin, with nearly 3.3 billion impressions last week. Second place goes to coverage of Hurricane Laura with 1.6 billion impressions, followed by PGA Tour Golf (1 billion) and America’s Newsroom (971.2 million). Two programs dedicated to coverage of the 2020 Republican National Convention also made the top 25 ranking: MSNBC’s Decision 2020: Republican National Convention and CNN’s America's Choice 2020: Republican National Convention.

Once again, Fox News takes first place with over 6.7 billion TV ad impressions, 1 billion more than the previous few weeks. NBC was in second place with 4.2 billion impressions, followed by CNN (3.4 billion), Weather Channel (3.2 billion) and CBS (2.9 billion). Multiple sports-centric networks also made the top 25, including NBC Sports (1 billion), Golf (709.7 million), Fox Sports 1 (297 million) and MLB Network (272.8 million).

The final night of the Republican National Convention attracted 23.8 million people Thursday, up 3% from 23 million four years ago.

The final night of the Democratic National Convention, when nominee Joe Biden spoke, drew 24.6 million viewers.

Donald Trump’s speech accepting the GOP nomination registered a 14.7 household rating, down from a 14.8 rating. 

There were 1.66 million viewers in the 18- to 34-year-old demographic tuned in, down from 1.92 million in 2016 and 15.97 million folks 55 and older, up from 14.25 million.

During 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET, Fox News Channel had the most viewers with 5.12 million. MSNBC had 3.73 million, CNN had 3.57 million viewers, ABC had 2.18 million, NBC had 2.08 million and CBS drew 1.5 million.

Among adults 25 to 54--the demographic most often used to make advertising decisions--Fox News had 1.1 million, CNN had 1.09 million, MSNBC had 752,000, NBC had 608,000, ABC had 590,000 and CBS had 409,000.

The Republican National Convention attracted 17.3 million total viewers on Wednesday night, down 24% from 23 million four year ago, according to Nielsen.

With Vice President Mike Pence headlining, the GOP drew an 11 rating from 10 p.m. ET to 11:15 p.m. when 11 networks aired live coverage, down from 12.2 on Tuesday and down from a 15 rating in 2016.

Related: GOP Convention Attracts 19.4M Viewers on Day Two

Day three of the Democratic National Convention drew 22.8 million viewers and a 14.6 rating last week.

The numbers do not include streaming.

Nielsen said that 823,000 18 to 34 year old tuned in, down from 1.7 million four years ago, and 12.4 million people 55 plus were watching.down from 15 million.

During the 10 p.m. hour, Fox News Channel had 7.1 million total viewers, followed by NBC with 2 million viewers, ABC with 1.9 million viewers, CBS with 1.78 million viewers, CNN with 1.51 million and MSNBC with 1.48 million viewers

Among adults 25-54, the demographic favored by news advertisers, Fox News had 1.4 million viewers, NBC News had 595,000 viewers, ABC had 534,000 viewers, CBS had 497,000 viewers, CNN had 487,000 viewers and MSNBC had 311,000 viewers.

The second day of the Republican National Convention drew 19.4 million viewers Tuesday, down 2% from 19.7 million four years ago, according to Nielsen.

On Monday, the Republican’s attracted 17 million viewers.

Day two of the Democratic National Convention had 24.7 million viewers a week ago.

From 10 p.m. to 11:15 p.m. ET, when 11 networks carried it live, the GOP events, including a speech by First Lady Melania Trump, registered a 12.2 household rating, up from Monday’s 10.7 rating and down from 12.7 in 2016.

On the night, 1.1 million young viewers--age 18-45--tuned in, down from 1.5 million four years ago and 13.9 million viewers age 55 and up, up from 12.7 million.

During the 10 p.m. ET hour, Fox News Channel drew 7.9 million total viewers, followed by NBC with 2.5 million viewers, CNN with 2.1 million viewers, ABC with 2.1 million viewers, MSNBC with 1.9 million viewers and CBS with 1.5 million viewers.

Among adults 25-54, the demographic favored by news advertisers, Fox News had 1.6 million viewers, dominating NBC with 684,000 viewers, CNN with 615,000 viewers, ABC with 561,000 viewers, CBS with 362,000 viewers and MSNBC with 392,000 viewers.

The opening night of the Republican National Convention drew 17.01 million viewers Monday, down 26% from 23.01 million four years ago, according to Nielsen.

The first night of last week’s Democratic National Convention attracted 19.7 million viewers.

The RNC drew a 10.7 household rating on the 11 networks with live coverage from 10 p.m. ET through 11 p.m. ET. That was down from a 12.7 rating in 2016.

There were 1.01 million 18- to 34-year-olds tuned in--down from 1.9 million a year ago, and 12.05 million people 55 years and up, down from 14.2 million.

During the 10 p.m. hour, Fox News had 7.1 million total viewers, topping all networks. CNN had over 2 million viewers, ABC had almost 2 million, NBC had 1.7 million, MSNBC had 1.6 million and CBS had 1.5 million 

Among adults 25-54, the demographic preferred by news advertisers, Fox News had 1.6 million, CNN had 606,000, NBC had 541,000, ABC had 521,000, CBS had 424, 000 and MSNBC had 308,000.

In case political junkies didn’t have enough content to tap into during the national conventions, Comcast’s X1 platform will be making sure there's no shortage of options. 

Comcast said is loading its X1 platform with “hundreds of hours” of past and present election content amid the Republican National Convention (RNC), which kicks off today in Cleveland and the Democratic National Convention (DNC), which gets underway in Philadelphia next week.

Comcast said its RNC and DNC VOD fare will provide a hub for convention speeches, Town Hall sessions, and debates, featuring curated content from NBC News, MSNBC, C-SPAN, CNN, Fox News, PBS, MTV, Comedy Central, as well as some short-form web video from Comcast’s ad-supported OTT service.

In addition to content from the upcoming conventions, the MSO noted that X1 will also offer access to every presidential candidate acceptance speech dating back to 1948.

Comcast is deploying about 40,000 X1 boxes per day, and expects to have about half of its video subscriber base on the platform by the end of 2016.

Comcast will also feature curated political fare, including the historical speeches, election news and highlights from the RNC and DNC, at its Election Central microsite.

YouTube, meanwhile, announced that it will again serve as the “official” live streaming provider for the RNC and DNC.

In a new twist, YouTube will also be streaming content in 360-degree format and supplying some mobile live streaming in partnership with YouTube creators such as The Young Turks, Complex News, Seeker Daily, Ingrid Nilsen, Mark  Watson, and Julie Borowski.

Multicultural entertainment networks are prepping for the biggest entertainment event of the summer: the Democratic and Republican conventions, and their respective presumptive presidential nominees, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

This month, networks such as Fuse, Revolt, BET and TV One will provide both TV and digital coverage of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland (July 18-21) and the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia (July 25-28).

Providing news coverage through a multicultural lens — especially during an important and unpredictable campaign season — should appeal to the networks’ target viewers despite the channels’ entertainment-programming pedigrees, network executives said.

“I think the landscape for this particular election season is uncharted territory,” Fuse Media CEO Michael Schwimmer said. “We have candidates on both sides that are controversial, and particularly on the Republican side, with regard to the Hispanic community. I don’t think we’ve seen this kind of change and acrimony in a way that so directly effects our audience.”

Fuse will air segments from the convention both on its air and online. They will be reported by correspondents Arlene Santana and James Villalobos, who were chosen by Fuse viewers last month as part of the network’s “Crash the Parties” initiative with nonprofit political organization Voto Latino, Schwimmer said.

Having covered the 2008 and 2012 conventions, Schwimmer added that there is far more interest among young viewers this year than in the previous elections.

“The interest in both candidates, along with the explosion of social media over the past eight years, makes this a better experience for us as an organization and for viewers who will get that content multiple ways,” Schwimmer said.

TV One president and CEO Brad Siegel said the network’s live daily coverage from the convention floors, via morning news program News One Now with Roland Martin, will provide its African-American audience with a more in-depth look at the issues important to them.

The show’s website, newsone.com, will also offer live reports from the conventions.

“Viewers expect us to be covering the most important news of the day, and be able to interpret and ask the questions of the newsmakers regarding how their politics affects African-Americans,” he said. “That’s our job — to ask the questions from a perspective that no one else is asking, and our viewers expect us to represent their point of view, their situations and how their policies affect their lives.”

Coverage of the conventions won’t be limited to what’s happening in the arenas. Revolt TV chief political correspondent Amrit Singh said he plans to complement the network’s convention coverage with reports from outside the proceedings, where major protests are expected.

“The story there is not only what’s happening in the convention halls but very much what’s happening in the streets,” he said.

As part of Revolt’s “Revolt 2 Vote” initiative, the network will feature live segments from the convention floor that will air on the network’s daily Revolt Live show as well as on network website revolt.tv, Singh said. The network will also break into regularly scheduled programming during the conventions to offer live updates and interviews from the convention floors, he added.

“These conventions are really four-day reality shows,” Singh said. “This is really an opportunity to galvanize the attention of our audience.”

Myx Tv general manager Miguel Santos added that a diverse offering of voices and images on television helps to assure that all voters have a chance to have their issues and concerns heard. 

“It’s important for multicultural networks to ensure that their viewers feel like they have a voice and their needs are being addressed,” said Santos, whose network is in process of planning its on-air and online election coverage.

“You’ll hear presidential candidates say ‘We have the African-American, Latino and event the LGBTQ+ vote’ but rarely is there a mention of Asian Americans," he added. "Our viewers need to know that  they can and should demand more attention because their votes matter too.”