This is a quick snapshot of TV by the numbers for the week of Jan. 11-17, 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 Vizio’s Inscape, the TV data company with 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).
When it comes to live TV, sports and news continue their domination, led by NFL games with 7.94% of all minutes watched, followed by the college football national championship (1.61%). CNN’s broadcast The 2nd Trump Impeachment Vote made it into the top 10 at No. 7 (0.76% of minutes watched). And, thanks in part to syndicated marathons, Chicago P.D. jumped up the ranking from No. 21 to No. 12, and Rizzoli & Isles broke into the top 25 after not previously being in the top 50.
NBC remained in first place for the network ranking (7.65%), fueled in part by NFL football, Today and NBC Nightly News With Lester Holt, while NFL games and post-game coverage helped boost Fox into second place with 7.64% of all minutes watched. Networks that maintained rank position week-over-week included Fox News, HGTV, Investigation Discovery, MTV and TV Land.
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.
Four out of the top five placements for TV ad impressions were sports-related, led by NFL games (9.3 billion impressions) and college football (1.8 billion). News programs were also prevalent throughout: CNN Newsroom took fifth place with 889.3 million TV ad impressions, a 39.97% week-over-week increase, while The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer, CNN Tonight With Don Lemon and Good Morning America all made the top 10. The only non-sports or news-related programming in the top 25: The Young and the Restless and The Price Is Right.
On the network side of things, CBS was first once again, although its 7.7 billion TV ad impressions constituted a 22.12% decrease from the previous week. CNN surpassed NBC to snag second place with 6.2 billion vs. 6.1 billion impressions, respectively. Thanks in part to the NFL and related coverage, Fox jumped into fourth place with 5.6 billion TV ad impressions, a 70% week-over-week increase. Newsmax TV entered into the ranking for the first time, grabbing No. 25 with 256 million ad impressions.
