This weekend’s lineup of live sports events starts on the tennis court with the Wimbledon tennis tournament men’s and women’s finals.

ESPN on Saturday morning will air the women’s finals match between Ons Jabeur and Arnya Sabalenka. On Sunday morning, the network will air the men’s finals match between the winners of Friday’s Jannik Sinner-Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz-Daniil Medvedev semi-final matches. 

On the basketball court, ABC on Saturday will televise the WNBA’s annual All-Star Game from Las Vegas.

In the boxing ring, Showtime will televise a Saturday primetime lightweight main event fight between Frank Martin and Artem Harutyunyan. In the octagon, ESPN will offer a UFC Fight Night women’s bantamweight bout between Holly Holm and Mayra Bueno Silva.  

On the links, CBS and Golf Channel will air weekend coverage of the DP World Tour Scottish Open. 

USA Network on Sunday will rev up its coverage of the NASCAR Cup Crayon 301 auto race, while Peacock streams the IndyCar Series Indy Toronto event.

Peacock on Sunday will also stream its weekly MLB Sunday Leadoff game featuring the San Francisco Giants and the Pittsburgh Pirates. ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball game will pit the Houston Astros against the Los Angeles Angels. 

On the soccer field, FS1 Sunday will air live the Concacaf Gold Cup finals match between Mexico and Panama.

Disney Advertising Sales is serving up a group of sponsors for coverage of the Wimbledon tennis tournament on ESPN and ABC, including Barclays as presenting sponsor. 

Disney said that Barclays is the first presenting sponsor for Wimbledon since 2017.

Barclays last year made a deal to become the official bank of the tournament, replacing HSBC, which had the title for 15 years.

A group of U.K. celebrities are calling for the Wimbledon tennis tournament to drop Barclays because of the bank’s support for the fossil fuel industry.

In an open letter to Wimbledon chief executive Sally Bolton, Richard Curtis, Emma Thompson and Deborah Meaden said Barclays is “financing and profiting from climate chaos, and accepting a sponsorship deal from them is an endorsement of these actions,” according to The Guardian.

As presenting sponsor on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, will have its on-site activations at the Wimbledon Grounds prominently featured in captured content. Barclays will also be the presenting sponsor of the Championship Preview Digital Live Show on social media.

Other featured sponsors during Wimbledon are IBM, Mass General Brigham and Rolex.

IBM, a long-term Wimbledon official partner, will power the IBM Match Insights, an AI-powered fact sheet that includes insights about each player, and the IBM Power Index Ranking enabling viewers to get up to speed quickly on the action.

Rolex continues its relationship with Wimbledon, again sponsoring the Game Duration feature. Mass General Brigham will bring fans detailed insights into their favorite players ahead of their matches through a Player Profiles feature. Both brands will have custom integrations and visibility throughout the slate of matches.

“At Disney, we reach audiences at a global level — and as the exclusive home for the Wimbledon 2023, fans are watching our beloved content from all over the world,” Disney Advertising VP, sports brand solutions Diedra Maddock said. “Through our best-in-class offerings and unmatched scalability, brands and advertisers are able to connect with fans in unique and creative ways that only Disney can provide.”

Disney points to research that shows how engaged brands and consumers are with Wimbledon on Disney networks. The Wimbledon 2022 coverage on ESPN networks reached nearly 31 million fans, up 31% from the previous year’s coverage. Additionally, ESPN’s digital tennis content reached an average of 1.9 million uniques per day, a 20%t increase from 2021. 

Coverage of Wimbledon matches begins Monday on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Plus and are scheduled to run through July 16.

Below is a snapshot of TV by the numbers for the week of July 4-10, 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).

Wimbledon wins watch-time for a second straight week as audiences watched Novak Djokovic collect the men’s singles title, while Elena Rybakina took home the women’s singles championship. The event accounted for 1.60% of minutes watched from July 4-10, up from 1.30% the previous week.

Some additional insights about the top programming on TV:

• Shows in syndication are big movers week-over-week, as Chicago Fire leaps from No. 30 to No. 9, Chicago P.D. hops from No. 24 to No. 12, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives pulls in at No. 13 (from No. 28), and Seinfeld climbs from No. 32 to No. 14.
• AMC’s Breaking Bad marathon helped the show break into the top 25 in our ranking with 0.42% of watch-time (after not being listed at all the previous week).
• Below Deck Mediterranean sails to an appearance at No. 18 in our ranking – thanks to its season seven premiere -- after not appearing among the top 50 from June 27-July 3.
• The Scottish Open pushes the PGA Tour’s minutes watched up from 0.52% to 0.74% week-over-week.

CBS is newly atop our list of most-watched networks, with 5.80% of watch-time from July 4-10. The network benefits primarily from the Scottish Open, its usual slate of daytime programming and Big Brother’s season 24 premiere.

Additional insights around the most-watched networks from July 4-10:

• ESPN jumps from No. 10 to No. 6 week-over-week, thanks in part to Wimbledon and Major League Baseball.
• Hallmark moves from No. 11 to No. 7 by watch-time week-over-week on the strength of syndicated shows like The Golden Girls, Reba and Frasier (among others).
• FX springs from No. 33 to No. 17 week-over-week, leaning on a Marvel movie marathon to coincide with the theatrical release of Thor: Love & Thunder, plus episode five of hit Jeff Bridges drama The Old Man.
• TNT shifts from No. 24 to No. 21 week-over-week, with audiences flocking to syndicated airings of NCIS: New Orleans, in particular.

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. 

MLB TV ad impressions are climbing at the season’s midway point. For the week of July 4-10, live games accounted for 2.71% of impressions -- up from 2.00% of impressions the previous week.

More data about the top programs by TV ad impressions:

• On the week, 15 of the top 25 shows by impressions are news- and talk-focused, led by Good Morning America at No. 2 (2.39% of all impressions).
• Big Brother’s 24th season premiered to 0.86% of impressions, which was 25th among all programs.
• ABC World News Tonight with David Muir moves from No. 6 to No. 4 week-over-week, increasing its share of impressions from 1.68% to 1.96%.
• Even with fewer matches week-over-week, Wimbledon didn’t lose much by share of impressions -- going from 1.48% during June 27-July 3, to 1.46% from July 4-10.

Fox News is No. 1 again in our ad-impressions-by-network ranking, delivering 12.44% of impressions on the week -- down slightly from 13.0% from June 27-July 3.

Additional insights around the top networks by impressions:

• ABC hops from No. 4 to No. 3, with Good Morning America accounting for 22.70% of the network’s impressions for the week.
• While Univision remains at No. 5 week-over-week, the network increases its share of impressions from 5.97% to 6.52%, fueled in part by primetime programs, which account for nearly 35% of Univision’s impressions.
• Fox Sports 1 flies from No. 24 to No. 17 in our ranking week-over-week, due in part to its typical slate of sports talk shows, plus MLB action and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
• USA Network leans on sports programming like the NASCAR Cup Series and Tour De France for its rise by share of TV ad impressions, from 1.44% to 1.56% week-over-week.

This weekend’s list of live TV sports events starts on the tennis court with the final round of the Wimbledon tennis tournament on ESPN. On Saturday Ons Jabeur will face Elena Rybakina in the women’s finals, while on Sunday Nick Kyrgios will battle top-seeded Novak Djokovic for the men’s title. 

ABC will replay the women’s finals match on Saturday afternoon and the men’s finals event on Sunday afternoon. 

On the racetrack, FS1 on Saturday will televise the NASCAR Truck O’Reilly Auto Parts 150 race, while USA Network offers up coverage of the Xfinity Alsco Uniforms 250 race. On Sunday ESPN will televise the Formula One Australian Grand Prix while USA televises the NASCAR Cup Quaker State 400. 

On the links, NBC will televise the final rounds of the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament, while CBS and the Golf Channel will provide weekend coverage of the DP World Scottish Open golf tournament. 

Peacock’s Sunday afternoon baseball game features the Los Angeles Angels against the Baltimore Orioles while ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball telecast will pit the New York Yankees against the Boston Red Sox.

In the boxing ring, Showtime on Saturday will televise the Mark Magsayo-Rey Vargas World Boxing Council featherweight title fight. In the octagon, ESPN will carry Saturday’s Brian Ortega-Yair Rodriguez featherweight match.■  

ESPN is entering the hot summer months with some ratings momentum fueled by year-to-year audience increases from its NBA Finals and NHL Stanley Cup Finals coverage on broadcast network ABC and its coverage of the Wimbledon tennis tournament.

ABC’s June coverage of the six-game Golden State Warriors-Boston Celtics NBA Finals averaged 12.4 million viewers, up 22% from last year’s COVID-delayed Milwaukee Bucks-Phoenix Suns finasl and the most-watched NBA Finals in three years, according to Nielsen. ABC’s Colorado Avalanche-Tampa Bay Lightning Stanley Cup Final last month averaged 4.6 million viewers, posting an 84% average viewership increase from NBC’s July 2021 Lightning-Montreal Canadiens final. 

Heading into Wimbledon’s finals weekend, ESPN was averaging nearly 620,000 viewers across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, up 41% from 2021’s coverage of the Grand Slam tournament. 

With Major League Baseball’s Home Run Derby, the WNBA’s postseason and the start of the 2022 college football campaign, ESPN is bullish about its summer ratings run, according to network senior VP of programming and planning Freddy Rolón, who recently spoke to Multichannel News. An edited version of the interview appears below: 

MCN: Do the strong ratings gains for the NHL and NBA Finals signal that the TV sports industry has returned to normal two years after the pandemic? 

Freddy Rolón: I feel like what we're seeing is the steady comeback of sports and sports viewership. There's a tendency to talk about pre-pandemic versus today, but it still feels like we’re in the pandemic. We were able to get through the [NBA and NHL] finals, but it’s easy to forget how a few months ago the NHL’s scheduled Olympic break became a COVID break. So we're still dealing with some of the effects of COVID even though we were lucky enough to kind of keep both seasons on track in terms of where they fell on the schedule. I think we as fans — both as viewers and as programmers — are still trying to deal with getting back to normal. Thinking through 2020, it seems like centuries away but we’re still coming out of it. We're getting there, but I think we may have a little short term memory on how close we are to it still. 

MCN: Having said that, were you surprised at the ratings performance for both the NBA and NHL postseason?

FR: Honestly, I would say surprised and very pleased. The playoff runs for the NHL and NBA helped fuel ESPN’s second-quarter ratings, which were up 22% in primetime — the best since 2014. We topped cable viewers 18-49 for total day, and a lot of that was driven up not only by the live playoff games, but the studio shows which gave us a lift. The ability to talk about what was happening in games allows us to continue the conversation with fans beyond the live games throughout the quarter. 

MCN: How do the ratings for the two finals bode for the importance of live sports programming on linear TV? 

FR: It shows that there is an audience that is seeking this content on linear platforms. With the NHL especially, all of the games were available across platforms, but live sports has been a driver for us consistently on linear. We can point to our success in college sports this past season, which were up consistently across the board on our linear platforms. Just in the second quarter alone, WNBA games were up 15% year to year; the NBA Draft was up 28%; and PGA Championship golf coverage was up 12%. Our Formula One races on ESPN were up 11%. Our women’s softball coverage had its best ratings since 2011 and the men’s baseball playoffs were up 20%. There’s a consistent story that we have to share of how sports are consistently drawing bigger audiences. 

MCN: How do you then balance your success on the linear side with reaching fans with live sports content on the digital platform?

FR: [ESPN president] Jimmy Pitaro says it really well with regards to operating on parallel paths here — growing one does not have to come at the expense of the other. There’s nothing that stops us from growing both businesses and working with audiences across those platforms. The strategy for those platforms differs sport by sport. With Wimbledon, for example, the Centre Court matches are on ESPN, and ESPN Plus covers the matches on the other courts. That expands our coverage of the event. We’re able to deliver more sports content through ESPN Plus that gives fans a deeper dive into the sports that they love that might not be available on ESPN. So from my standpoint, there’s room for both. They’re not necessarily competitive, but additive for us.

MCN: How do you see the network continuing to build its ratings momentum throughout the rest of the summer? 

FR: We’ve had great ratings for Wimbledon and I’m excited to see how [baseball's] Home Run Derby does. We’re also looking forward to the college football season, which is just around the corner — I think that’s going to help us continue the trend.  ■

Below is a snapshot of TV by the numbers for the week of June 27-July 3, 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).

Wimbledon action drives a watch-time win for tennis, as the event soars to 1.30% of minutes watched with the tournament field narrowing. That’s No. 1 among all programs from June 27-July 3.

Some additional insights about the top programming on TV:

• Morning shows are on the rise week-over-week, with Good Morning America climbing from No. 6 to No. 4, Today moving from No. 8 to No. 6, and CBS Mornings progressing from No. 19 to No. 17.
• Marathons drive week-over-week newcomers in our ranking, with Below Deck soaring to No. 9 and Yellowstone jumping to No. 10 (after neither appeared among the top 50 the previous week).
• Feuding fuels more watch-time, as Family Feud hops from No. 23 to No. 20 week-over-week, while Celebrity Family Feud is new to our ranking at No. 21.
• On the week, six different procedurals appear among the 25 most-watched shows, with Blue Bloods notably hopping from No. 32 to No. 22.

ABC stays atop our list of most-watched networks, with 5.94% of watch-time from June 27-July 3. That barely beats out CBS (5.90% of watch-time) for the No. 1 spot, as ABC benefits from its typical morning and daytime programming, plus Wimbledon.

Additional insights around the most-watched networks from June 27-July 3:

• Paramount Network leans into Yellowstone reruns to power a week-over-week jump from No. 35 to No. 21 in our ranking.
• Bravo’s own Below Deck marathon helps set up the network’s move from No. 28 to No. 25 by watch-time week-over-week.
• History drives from No. 22 to No. 19 by minutes watched week-over-week, due in part to coverage of the Barrett-Jackson Live Auction car event from Las Vegas.
• HGTV makes modest gains, jumping from No. 9 to No. 8 week-over-week, with a boost from new House Hunters episodes, plus a Love It Or List It marathon.

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. 

Good Morning America wakes up as the top program by TV ad impressions for the week of June 27-July 3, with 2.59% of the total. The show was No. 2 the week before, with 2.42% of impressions.

More data about the top programs by TV ad impressions:

• From June 27-July 3, five of the top 10 programs were morning shows, with Today’s third hour making the biggest jump – from 1.10% of impressions to 1.41% week-over-week.
• Wimbledon is a hit for impressions, as the tennis event scores 1.48% for the week across both ABC and ESPN.
• Telemundo’s La Casa de los Famosos soars from No. 27 to No. 11 week-over-week as advertisers flocked to week 8 of the popular reality show’s second season.
• This week’s ranking features four different daytime soap operas: The Young and the Restless (No. 5), General Hospital (No. 17), Days of Our Lives (No. 23) and The Bold and the Beautiful (No. 24).

Fox News is No. 1 in our ad-impressions-by-network ranking, grabbing 13.0% of impressions. That’s up from 12.76% the previous week, when the cable network was No. 2 behind ABC.

Additional insights around the top networks by impressions:

• CBS increases from 10.53% to 11.34% of impressions week-over-week, thanks in large part to daytime programming, which accounts for 42.74% of the network’s impressions on the week.
• NBC moves from No. 4 to No. 3 week-over-week in our ranking, with Today and Today’s third hour combining for over 32% of the network’s weekly impressions.
• As baseball nears the All-Star Break, interest heats up for MLB Network, which increases share of impressions week-over-week from 1.88% to 2.39%.
• Ancient Aliens: Declassified delivers 21.57% of impressions for History Channel (No. 18 in our ranking), while the Barrett-Jackson Live Auction is No. 2 with 19.57%.

The July 4 holiday weekend slate of live TV sports events begins on the football field as the upstart USFL concludes its inaugural season with its Championship Game between the Birmingham Stallions and Philadelphia Stars.

Also on tap for the weekend is WNBA action as ESPN televises the Phoenix Mercury-Chicago Sky contest on Saturday as well as Sunday’s Washington Mystics-Connecticut Sun contest. Also on Sunday, NBA TV will air the Seattle Storm-Atlanta Dream game and CBSSN will televise the New York Liberty-Los Angeles Sparks game.

On the links, CBS and the Golf Channel will offer coverage of the final rounds of the John Deere Classic PGA tournament.

On the racetrack, NBC Sunday will air the Honda Indy 200 IndyCar Series race, while USA Network will televise the NASCAR Cup Series Kwik Trip 250 race and ESPN covers the British Grand Prix Formula One race.

ESPN Plus on Saturday will distribute the UFC 276 pay-per-view bout between Israel Adesanya and Jared Cannonier.

ESPN will continue its Wimbledon tennis tournament coverage throughout the three-day holiday weekend. On Monday, ESPNNews will telecast live the annual Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest.

Peacock’s Sunday afternoon baseball game will feature the Kansas City Royals against the Detroit Tigers, while ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball matchup pits the St. Louis Cardinals against the Philadelphia Phillies.

NBC, Peacock and USA Network on Saturday will offer live coverage of the Tour de France cycling event, with USA and Peacock offering third-round coverage on Sunday.

MLB Network will offer a full day of Independence Day baseball games featuring five regional telecasts scheduled to begin as early as 11 a.m., according to the network. ■

Below, our snapshot of TV by the numbers for the week of July 5-11, shining 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).

The NBA Finals are well underway between the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns, and after the first three games of the series, the NBA once again leads in minutes watched on TV. During the week of July 5-11, the NBA Finals remained in first place with 1.77% of watch-time (down just slightly from the week prior, when both conference finals series were still going on).

Entering its own final round, the 2021 Wimbledon Championships vault up to second place this week with 1.19% of minutes watched. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Good Morning America come in third and fourth, respectively. MLB games round out the top five shows by watch-time, with 0.75% of minutes watched.

Sports programming peppers the rest of the top 25 as well. ESPN’s SportsCenter sits at No. 10 with 0.55% of watch-time, while the NHL’s Stanley Cup Final is No. 15 after the Tampa Bay Lightning took home the franchise’s second straight championship. The 2020 European Championships (soccer) culminated with an Italy win and a No. 21 ranking by minutes watched. PGA Tour action follows closely behind at No. 22.

Love It or List It and Two and a Half Men are both new to this week’s top 25, as the former jumped up from outside the top 50 shows by watch-time to claim No. 24. The latter was No. 28 the previous week, and finished No. 23 this time around.

Also Read: Summer 2021 TV Premiere Dates

Following three straight weeks with NBC leading the watch-time ranking, ABC makes a one-spot jump back to No. 1. The network benefits from the NBA Finals en route to 7.09% of total minutes watched. NBC's down just one spot to No. 2 with 5.60% of watch-time, followed by CBS (5.29%), Fox News (3.76%) and Fox (3.50%). Baseball, primetime reality TV and game shows are what helped push Fox up from sixth the previous week.

Hallmark makes the chart’s biggest move of the week, from No. 17 to No. 10, followed by Univision from No. 16 to No. 11. The start of Shark Week helps Discovery Channel swim upstream from No. 25 to No. 20, with 1.24% of minutes watched. Bravo was No. 25 this week, with 1.07% of watch-time.

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. 

As one would expect, the NBA Finals deliver the most TV ad impressions, keeping the NBA atop this list once again. The Finals had nearly 2.5 billion TV ad impressions from July 5-11 — almost 1.6 billion more than the No. 2 show, Good Morning America (925 million on the week). Today remains in third with 744 million TV ad impressions, followed by The Young and the Restless (636 million) and Major League Baseball games (595 million) to close out the top five.

Sports-related programming also takes up the next two spots, with the Stanley Cup Finals at No. 6, and 2021 Wimbledon Championships at No. 7. Airing all of the highlights from the aforementioned events, SportsCenter is No. 11 on the week, with 451 million TV ad impressions. PGA Tour Golf is No. 16.

News also remains a fixture among the top 25 shows by TV ad impressions. About half of the shows in this ranking are news-related, including four of the top 10. Reality TV is also a factor, representing three of the top 25 shows: America’s Got Talent (No. 13), Love Island (No. 22) and Big Brother (No. 23).

ABC and NBC switch places yet again, with ABC leaping over NBC for the No. 1 spot in this week’s ad-impressions-by-network ranking. ABC benefits from the NBA Finals while taking a sizable (6.4 billion to 4.1 billion) lead. NBC still earns second place on the week with the Summer Olympics right around the corner.

After the top two spots, CBS lands at No. 3 with 3.9 billion TV ad impressions, followed by Fox News at No. 4 with 3.8 billion, then CNN at No. 5 with 2.3 billion. Thanks in part to baseball, Fox climbs from No. 13 to No. 13 while increasing impressions by 9% week-over-week. HGTV is up three spots from No. 15 to No. 12, and Discovery rides the start of Shark Week from No. 16 to No. 13.

Food Network closes out the weekly ranking at No. 25 after not appearing in the previous week’s list.

The weekend’s list of televised live sports events begins in the octagon Saturday night as ESPN Plus offers via pay-per-view the UFC 264 event pitting Conor McGregor against Dustin Poirier in the third match between the two mixed martial arts fighters. The second fight between the two won by Poirier this past January drew a reported 1.2 million pay-per-view buys. 

In other sports, ABC on Sunday will air game three of the NBA Finals, as the Phoenix Suns travel to Milwaukee to play the Bucks, up 2-0 in the series. 

ESPN on Saturday morning will televise the women's final of the Wimbledon tennis tournament, followed by the men’s final on Sunday morning.

From the links, NBC will air final round weekend coverage of the American Century Championship tournament, while CBS airs the PGA John Deere Classic on Saturday and Sunday. 

On the soccer field, ESPN on Sunday will air the finals of the UEFA Euro 2020 tournament between Italy and England, while FS1 will air the CONCACAF Gold Cup match between Canada and Martinique. 

ESPN on Sunday will air the MLB Draft live as baseball heads into the All-Star break next week. 

Below is our snapshot of TV by the numbers for the week of June 28-July 4, shining 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).

Heated Eastern and Western Conference Finals series mean that the NBA Playoffs once again lead by minutes watched on TV. During the week of June 28-July 4, the NBA stayed in first place with 1.86% of watch-time. While that’s down from 2.1% of minutes watched the week prior, the week also features fewer total games by comparison.

Audiences are also hooked on watching other sporting events on TV, too. The 2021 Wimbledon Championships are third this week with 0.93% of minutes watched, followed closely by MLB games at 0.89%. Knockout round matchups have the 2020 European Championships (soccer) remaining in sixth with 0.82% of watch-time. The 2021 Stanley Cup Final notably rounds out the top 25 shows, with 0.42% of minutes watched as the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning battle it out.

Summer also appears to involve tuning in to syndicated fare for a lot of viewers. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit reruns make up 1.00% of minutes watched on TV, while Chicago P.D. is No. 8 with 0.75% and Chicago Fire is No. 10 with 0.60%. Friends is No. 9 at 0.66% of watch-time, and MTV air-time juggernaut Ridiculousness jumps from No. 16 to No. 12 on the week, with 0.58% of minutes watched.

Also Read: ESPN Finishes NBA Playoffs Coverage on High Note

The aforementioned Chicago Fire is one of the weeks’ top newcomers to not appear in the top 50, along with Wimbledon matches and Paramount Network’s Yellowstone. HGTV’s Home Town also moves up, from No. 35 to No. 16, while NCIS migrates from No. 32 to No. 18.

NBC claims a third consecutive week leading the watch-time ranking, at 5.86% of minutes watched. ABC isn’t too far behind at 5.75%, followed by CBS (5.47%) and Fox News Channel (4.13%). Week-over-week, the top six networks stay exactly the same, in order, with ESPN (3.60% of watch-time) and Fox (3.49%) occupying the fifth and sixth positions, respectively. Immediately below that group, TNT and HGTV swap places, with the former moving up to seventh and HGTV settling in at eighth.

With kids home from school, Nickelodeon climbs from 16th to 14th, at 1.52% of minutes watched. Discovery Channel is No. 25 with 1.09% of watch-time.

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’s conference finals concluded by delivering the most TV ad impressions once again. NBA Playoff games had over 1.84 billion TV ad impressions from June 28-July 4, which is nearly two times the total for the No. 2 show: Good Morning America (988 million on the week). Today sits in third with 786 million TV ad impressions, followed by The Young and the Restless (722 million) and Major League Baseball games (668 million) to round out the top five.

PGA Tour golf moves up a spot to 10th this week, while Wimbledon and the Stanley Cup Final are newcomers among the top 15 shows by TV ad impressions. The conclusion of the College World Series winds up at 18th, hitting it out of the park despite losing a game or two due to COVID protocols.

Reality TV typically isn’t a fixture among the top shows by impressions, but America’s Got Talent is 15th with 398 million and The Bachelorette now sits at No. 25 with 329 million.

NBC and ABC flip-flop once again, as the former is No. 1 in this week’s ad-impressions-by-network ranking. NBC arrives at the top spot by way of news and the aforementioned America’s Got Talent. ABC similarly banks on news, along with The Bachelorette, before becoming the home of the NBA Finals for the coming week. 

Following the top two spots, CBS is No. 3 with 4.2 billion TV ad impressions, then Fox News is No. 4 with 3.9 billion, while CNN is fifth at 2.3 billion. TNT and ESPN2 both tack on more impressions week-over-week by way of major sports programming. CNN’s total also climbs by about 10% compared to the prior week.

Spanish language sports channel TUDN and The Weather Channel are both week-over-week newcomers to the ranking, appearing in 24th and 25th place, respectively. UniMás shifts up two spots from No. 24 to No. 22. And Golf Channel leaps from No. 20 to No. 16. 

National TV ad revenue rose 2.5% in July, thanks largely to gains in sports on cable, according to new figures from research company Standard Media Index.

Cable news and broadcast primetime entertainment also posted increases.

Cable networks registered a 3.7% rise in ad revenue with sports programming up 30% in July. Broadcast ad revenue was up 0.3%

Much of the cable gain came from the Wimbledon tennis tournament, which aired on ESPN and ESPN2 entirely in July. Last year, four days of Wimbledon were played in June. ESPN also aired the X Games in July after they were played in June last year. The network got a bump from a 12% increase in commercial unit prices on its sports talk shows.

Related: ESPN Fits Mobile App With ‘Watch’ Tab

Cable news networks were also strong, with an 11% increase across Fox News Channel, CNN and MSNBC. Of those, MSNBC saw the largest gain, up 33%, followed by CNN (up 10%) and FNC (up 5%).

Spending on broadcast sports was down 13% compared witha year ago, when the Olympic trials brought more than $20 million in spending to NBC. The broadcasters were also hurt by the PGA Championship returning to August; it was moved to July last year because of the Olympics.

Related: NBC Sports Rebrands Comcast RSNs

Overall ad spending in July rose 12%.

Digital returned to strong growth with an 18% gain. But SMI said one large advertiser, Unilever, which announced it will shift spending from digital to TV, spent 15% more on cable and broadcast than a year ago.

Digital video grew 12%, with premium video showing big gains. Hulu was up 37%, while YouTube was down 15%. Some advertisers have pulled advertising from YouTube because of concern ads might run alongside inappropriate content. TV network digital was up 11%.

“Despite national TV ratings challenges, the ad market opened the second half of the year with a real bang,” said James Fennessy, CEO of Standard Media Index. “Social and premium video remain the powerhouses of the digital sector.”

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

Discovery Communications said its Eurosport network has secured a five-year deal for live simulcast coverage of the Wimbledon Gentlemen’s and Ladies Singles finals and daily 90-minute highlight shows for the duration of the storied tennis tourney.

The deal gives Eurosport rights in the U.K. for all four Grand Slam tennis events – The French Open, The Australian Open and the U.S. Open are the others. The Wimbledon agreement is in line with British agency Ofcom’s Listed Events regulations, which allows a secondary broadcaster to acquire certain rights alongside the primary broadcaster, which in the case of The Championships is the BBC.

“It is fantastic to offer fans the chance to watch one of the most iconic events in British sport on Eurosport for the first time,” said Discovery Networks UK and Ireland EVP and MD Susanna Dinnage in a statement.” Adding the Wimbledon rights means we now have live coverage of all four top tournaments and cements our position as the Home of Grand Slam Tennis in the U.K.”

Eurosport’s Rob Curling will host the nightly highlights program in the U.K. from the All England Club from 10 pm every day of the tournament.

In addition to the four Glam Slams, Eurosport broadcasts the Davis Cup, known as the ‘World Cup of Tennis’ and the five British grass court tournaments that take place in the lead up to The Championships, Wimbledon.

The BBC will continue to broadcast continuous daily live coverage of The Championships in the UK across BBC 1, BBC 2 and online, and remains the AELTC’s primary UK broadcast partner for the term 2016-2020 inclusive.

In recognition of Serena Williams' Wimbledon Tennis championship win today, Tennis Channel will air Williams' sequential Grand Slam finals victories beginning Monday.

Tennis Channel on July 13 will air in chronological order Williams' 2014 US Open, 2015 Australian Open and French Open, as well as today's Wimbledon win, according to network officials.

In addition starting July 12, the network's Tennis Channel Plus digital subscription service will feature a fully dedicated section to the "Serena Slam" and will run her US Open, Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon wins on a 24/7 loop, said network officials. 

Tennis Channel will provide coverage of the upcoming 2015 US Open beginning Aug. 31. If Williams wins the U.S. Open, she will be the first female player to win all four Grand Slams in the same year since Steffi Graff in 1988, said network officials.

Now in its third year of exclusively covering The Championships, ESPN – and tennis fans – have to be rooting for a little more tradition.

The worldwide leader’s Wimbledon ratings took a hit last year with the early exits of many of the sport’s notables: Rafa Nadal lost in the first round, while 2012 defending champion Roger Federer departed in the second, his record 36 consecutive quarterfinals or better performances in a Grand Slam dispatched on the grass he loves.

Serena Williams’ defense of her 2012 crown ended in the fourth round to eventual finalist Sabine Lasicki, while Victoria Azarenka didn’t make it to the second, losing in her opener against the comely Italian, Camila Giorgi, 5-7 in the third.

Minus the star power, ESPN2/ESPN averaged 835,000 viewers in 2013, down 10% from 981,000 during the first year the worldwide became the sole U.S. rights-holder.  Despite Andy Murray becoming the first Brit to win the gentleman’s singles title since Fred Perry captured the title in 1936, the Scot’s triumph over Novak Djokovic netted a 1.7 rating, versus the 2.9 for Federer-Murray in 2012, the worldwide leader’s best ever tennis mark.

The women’s final – Marion Bartoli took the measure of Lasicki and then retired from the sport weeks later – drew a 0.9 rating, compared with the 1.7 for Williams’ three-set win over Agnieszka Radwanska as she captured her fifth title at The Big W.

This year, ESPN’s exclusive coverage of The Championships, Wimbledon – from the first serve to the presentations of the hardware – begins Monday, June 23, from the All England Lawn Tennis Club and includes an expanded schedule of 1,000 hours on ESPN3 and the return of complete television coverage including “Cross Court Coverage” on three days to start the second week. 

With the 2014 FIFA World Cup in full swing, ESPNEWS will join ESPN and ESPN2 in presenting 140 hours of TV coverage.  The fortnight culminates with the women’s and doubles championships on ESPN on Saturday, July 5, and the men’s final on Sunday, July 6.

The following are coverage highlights:

• The first four days of the tournament, ESPN will begin at 7 a.m. ET for daylong coverage that transitions to ESPNEWS at 11:30 a.m., with ESPN2 simulcasting from 2 – 3:30 p.m.  On Friday, June 27, ESPN will have all the action, and also on Saturday, June 28, beginning with Breakfast at Wimbledon from 7-8 a.m.
• “Cross Court Coverage” will return the first three days of the second week, with ESPN2 focused on Centre Court all day while fans will enjoy a “grounds pass” with matches from Court One and elsewhere on ESPN (transitioning to ESPNEWS at 11:30 a.m. on Monday, June 30, and Tuesday, July 1).
• Starting Thursday, July 3, all the action is on ESPN, beginning each day with Breakfast at Wimbledon hosted by Hannah Storm.
• On the “middle Sunday,” June 29, a scheduled day off as is Wimbledon tradition, ABC will broadcast a three-hour review of the first week at 3 p.m.  ABC will also present encore presentations of the finals on the day they take place, July 6 and 7 at 3 p.m.
• ESPN3 has increased its multi-screen offering to 1,000 hours – all available TV courts (up to nine) presented from first ball to last ball each day, with action available on demand afterwards.  Also, ESPN3 will add AELTC’s daily Live@Wimbledon. For the first time, Wimbledon.com will host the ESPN3 video offerings, greatly increasing its reach.
• WatchESPN will deliver all ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNEWS programming, accessible online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the award-winning WatchESPN app, and streamed on televisions through ESPN on Xbox LIVE to Gold members, Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire TV to more than 92 million households nationwide via an affiliated video or internet provider.