Below is a snapshot of TV by the numbers for the week of June 20-26, 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 Stanley Cup Final concluded on Sunday, as the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games. From June 20-26, the exciting series led the way, with 1.45% of all minutes watched.

Some additional insights about the top programming on TV:

• As the field narrows for the Men’s College World Series, the event is earning more watch-time, jumping up to No. 3 in our ranking (up from No. 8 the previous week).
• Thursday night’s NBA Draft netted 0.48% of watch-time on the week — good for No. 17 overall.
• Family Feud climbs from No. 27 to No. 23 week-over-week, courtesy of a consistent presence on Game Show Network.
• Chicago Fire stays hot, even weeks after season 10 has concluded, landing at No. 14 by watch-time despite only airing syndicated episodes.

ABC stays at the top of our list of most-watched networks in part due to the Stanley Cup Final, which played four games in primetime from June 20-26. The network accounts for 6.31% of watch-time, which is down from 8.17% the week before.

Additional insights around the most-watched networks from June 20-26:

• Airing the PGA Tour’s Travelers Championship helped CBS leapfrog NBC for No. 2 in our ranking, with 5.96% on the week.
• CNN increases minutes watched from 1.72% to 1.99% week-over-week, leading to a jump from No. 13 to No. 10 by most-watched networks.
• BET flies into our ranking after Sunday’s 2022 BET Awards, increasing watch-time from 0.84% to 1.10% week-over-week.
• History Channel moves from No. 26 to No. 22 by minutes watched week-over-week, on a steady diet of reality shows like Pawn Stars, American Pickers and Alone (among others).

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 week of June 20-26 concludes with the NHL’s Stanley Cup Final as the top program by impressions, with 3.91% of the total. That’s more than a 2.33x week-over-week increase for the series, which also broadcast twice as many games this week versus last.

More data about the top programs by TV ad impressions:

• Morning shows deliver a larger share of impressions week-over-week, with Good Morning America climbing from 2.09% to 2.42%, and Today moving from 1.65% to 1.97%.
• MLB games catch a larger share of impressions on the week, with 1.79% – propelling a jump from No. 9 to No. 5 in our ranking.
• The 2022 BET Awards soar to No. 15 by impressions, courtesy of a live simulcast across Paramount cable networks including BET, BET Her, Pop, TV Land and more.
• The NASCAR Cup Series grabs the No. 25 spot in our ranking, as the Ally 400 and race qualifying account for 0.84% of the week’s impressions.

ABC parks in the No. 1 spot for another week in our ad-impressions-by-network ranking, collecting 12.76% of impressions (down from 17.23% the previous week, which featured both the Stanley Cup Final and NBA Finals).

Additional insights around the top networks by impressions:

• Fox News Channel hops from No. 3 to No. 2 week-over-week, with 24.46% of impressions delivered during the early fringe daypart.
• While Fox News’s share of impressions increased slightly week-over-week (from 11.74% to 11.75%), it was part of a trend for cable news as MSNBC’s grew from 6.00% to 6.27% and CNN went from 5.10% to 5.36%.
• The Men’s College World Series helped power ESPN2 from No. 17 to No. 13 week-over-week as the tournament field narrowed to the final teams.
• Hallmark Channel springs from No. 32 to No. 23 by impressions week-over-week, thanks in large part to the premiere of TV movie Two Tickets to Paradise, starring Ashley Williams and Ryan Paevey.

The lineup of live TV sports events set for the Father’s Day and Juneteenth holiday weekend starts on the ice with ABC's coverage Saturday of Game two of the NHL Stanley Cup finals between the Colorado Avalanche and the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Avalanche on Wednesday took the opening contest with a thrilling 4-3 overtime victory.

Game three of the Stanley Cup Final will air Monday night on ABC. 

The USFL wraps up its inaugural regular season with Saturday telecasts on USA (Philadelphia Stars-New Jersey Generals) and Fox (Birmingham Stallions-Tampa Bay Bandits) and Sunday games on USA (Michigan Panthers-Pittsburgh Maulers) and FS1 (New Orleans Breakers-Houston Gamblers). 

NBC, USA Network and streaming service Peacock will offer weekend coverage of the 2022 US Open PGA golf tournament, while the Golf Channel will feature coverage of the LPGA Meijer Classic tournament.

CBS on Saturday launches its coverage of the Big3 basketball league. The fifth season of the Ice Cube-founded league featuring former NBA stars tips off in Chicago. On Sunday, CBS will air coverage of the WNBA game between the Connecticut Sun and Washington Mystics, while ESPN will air the Seattle Storm-New York Liberty contest and CBS Sports Network will televise the Minnesota Lynx-Las Vegas Aces game.

ESPN steps into the boxing ring Saturday night with a telecast of the Artur Beterbiev and Joe Smith Jr. light heavyweight championship unification fight. The sports network will also air a Saturday afternoon UFC main event bout between featherweights Calvin Kattar and Josh Emmett. 

On the baseball diamond, Peacock’s Sunday afternoon game will feature the Philadelphia Phillies and the Washington Nationals, while ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball telecast will pit the Chicago White Sox against the Houston Astros.■  

Commercial inventory for the Stanley Cup Final is nearly sold out, according to Disney Ad Sales.

Disney said it has signed up 10 sponsors as the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Colorado Avalanche battle for the National Hockey League’s championship. There will also be 59 other advertisers in 35 categories appearing during the telecasts.

The sponsors include Apple, Crypto.com, Discovery, GEICO, Goodyear, Honda, Lexus, SAP, Subway and Verizon.

Disney said demand for advertising time exceeded expectations. This is Disney’s first year covering the NHL under its new contract with the league. The contract calls for Disney to have the final in even-numbered years. Warner Bros. Discovery’s Turner Sports gets the final round in odd-numbered years.

“We are incredibly proud of the sponsorship success we’ve seen in the NHL’s first season back home on Disney,” said Jim Minnich, senior VP, Disney Advertising Revenue Yield Management. “Brands flocked to our unique offerings resulting in strong NHL demand throughout the entire season.”

Also: Disney’s NHL Postseason Coverage Skates on Multiple Platforms

The games will be presented by GEICO, with Lexus sponsoring the first intermission and Discovery sponsoring the second intermission. If a game goes into overtime, Subway will sponsor the break after regulation time.

Before each game, Crypto.com will sponsor starting lineups, while Honda highlights the starting goalies. SAP will provide statistical insight from its Coaching Insights App. Goodyear will provide aerial coverage.

During the final, Apple will showcase its Siri driver integrations.

The games will appear on ABC and on ESPN streaming platforms.

The Eastern Conference Final on ESPN, with two-time Stanley Cup winners Tampa Bay defeating the New York Rangers in six games, averaged 2.4 million viewers, up 82% from 2021, when the games were on NBCU outlets including NBC, NBCSN and Peacock. ■

NBCUniversal said its Peacock streaming service will be showing the remaining games of the Stanley Cup Final. 

The concluding round of the National Hockey League post-season championship tournament is already being broadcast on NBC. Peacock had streamed games during earlier rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

A few years ago, NBCUniversal put Stanley Cup games on NBCSN in order to get fans to tune in to the cable network and persuade more distributors to carry it as it tried to catch up with ESPN. NBCSN will be shutting down at the end of the year.

NBCU is part of Comcast, which owns the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team and has had rights to the NHL since 2005. ESPN and Turner Sports will be carrying the NHL starting next season.

Also Read: Wayne Gretzky Joins Turner Sports as Hockey Analyst

Game three of the Stanley Cup finals between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Montreal Canadiens will be played Friday.

Kenny Albert will be the play-by-play announcer with analyst Eddie Olczyk and Brian Boucher reporting from inside-the-glass.

With NBCSN shutting down, NBCU has been moving more sports programming to boost Peacock. Peacock will be streaming many events from the Tokyo Olympics. It will also be showing Tour de France, Premier Lacrosse League, Indycar, Premier League soccer, Sunday Night Football and the Super Bowl.

With their six-game triumph over the Montreal Canadiens, the New York Rangers are returning to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 20 years and MSG Networks will be all over the  action.

MSG Network will expand its pregame coverage of the Broadway Blueshirts with the addition of Rangers Stanley Cup Countdown presented by Chase. The puck will drop on the hour-long show, hosted by Bill Pidto and Ron Dugua from Rangerstown Hockey House presented by Chase, at 6:30 p.m. on game nights and will feature special guests and Rangers alumni throughout the Final series.

Rangers Stanley Cup Gamenight hosted by Al Trautwig and featuring Joe Micheletti and Sam Rosen, will follow at 7:30 p.m. along with Mercedes-Benz Rangers Stanley Cup Postgame, a 60-90 minute recap and analysis immediately following the game. 

On all non-game days, MSG Network will telecast the new one-hour program Rangers Stanley Cup Insider at 9 p.m. This live show, hosted by Pidto and featuring MSG’s popular play-by-play team of Micheletti and Rosen, will provide Rangers fans with up-to-the-minute news on the teams, players, and coaches, as well as live interviews with former players, hockey aficionados, celebrities and more. (Check out a schedule below)

The Rangers will battle either the 2012 titlist Los Angeles Kings or the 2013 defending champion Chicago Blackhawks for Lord Stanley's Cup.  LA leads Chicago three games to two, with the sixth contest scheduled for May 30 at Staples Center. Should a decisive seventh game be necessary, the Blackhawks would hold home ice advantage in the United Center.

 MSG Network and MSG + will also screen marathons of series featuring Rangers players and coaches, alongside player interviews and other content.

On Tuesday, June 3 Rangers fans can relive every minute of the 1994 Stanley Cup Final – which ended the club’s 54-year NHL championship drought -- as MSG Network broadcasts all seven games beginning at 6 a.m., leading into the premiere of Rangers Stanley Cup Insider at 9 p.m.

Preceding the first Final game on Wednesday, June 4, MSG will tee up Beginnings, its original series that profiles the roots of Garden stars and legends.  Starting at 1:30 p.m. the Beginnings stunts presents behind-the-scenes looks at Adam Graves, Brian Boyle, Marc Staal, Brad Richards, Derek Dorsett, John Moore, Ryan McDonagh, Derick Brassard, and Dan Girardi, and will lead into that evening’s pregame coverage.

The following day the regional sports network will dedicate two hours to goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, starting at 5 p.m., with three episodes of The Game 365 and MSG Countdown:HenrikLundqvist’s Greatest Saves.

The full programming schedule, along with New York Rangers news and information, is available at http://www.msg.com/.

GAME DAY PROGRAMMING

Rangers Stanley Cup Countdown presented by Chase: 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Live one-hour pregame show hosted by Bill Pidto and Ron Duguay from Rangerstown Hockey House (free indoor fan festival featuring interactive games, photo opportunities with Rangers alumni, and more), featuring special guests and Rangers alumni

Rangers Stanley Cup Gamenight: 7:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Live 30-minute pregame show hosted by Al Trautwig and featuring Joe Micheletti and Sam Rosen

Mercedes-Benz Rangers Stanley Cup Postgame: Immediately following each game

Live 60-90 minute show recapping the game, hosted by Al Trautwig, with Joe Micheletti, Sam Rosen, Dave Maloney, John Giannone, and Ron Duguay

OFF DAY PROGRAMMING INCLUDES:

Rangers Stanley Cup Insider: 9:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Live one-hour show providing Rangers fans with the latest news during the 2014 Stanley Cup Final, hosted by Bill Pidto with Joe Micheletti and Sam Rosen and featuring special guests and Rangers alumni