Welcome to our weekly snapshot of TV by the numbers, highlighting the most-watched shows and networks for August 12-18, with insights from Inscape, the currency-grade smart TV ACR data provider and data technology division of Vizio. 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).
With the Olympics out of the way, the NFL made short order of reclaiming the throne on the TV program ranking. Preseason games accounted for 2.48% of watch-time last week, followed by the MLB (1.85%) and the Little League Baseball World Series (1.25%). With the college football and regular NFL seasons on the horizon, we can expect sports to continue asserting their dominance for TV viewership in the coming weeks.
A few more highlights around the top TV programs for Aug. 12-18:
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which fell off the chart during the Olympics, rockets into fourth place fueled by reruns on USA and ION.
PGA Tour golf jumps from No. 48 previously to No. 4, capturing a 0.83% viewership share, while SportsCenter moves from No. 22 to No. 8 (0.69% of minutes watched).
The Ingraham Angle and Dateline were two week-over-week ranking newcomers, taking No. 21 and No. 25, respectively.
Only three programs — all news related — retained chart positions week-over-week: Today, America Reports with John Roberts & Sandra Smith and Jesse Watters Primetime.
Check out the ranking of most-watched TV networks over on The Measure.
