Network/Cable Channels Average Ratings for all of 2024

[Bruce]

No wonder Advertising Revenue is so down, these are in the thousands, for example, NBC is 4,428,000 Million, while Disney XD is 18,000.

Just imagine if they got rid of about 100 of these channels and the per sub fee along with them, combine programming on the better rated channels.

Wonder what that monthly bill would be like then?

See #1 through #153 ranked below, in thousands of average viewers (for example, ESPN averaged 1.703 million viewers; TNT had 813,000). The date range is January 1, 2024-December 11, 2024.

1	NBC	4,428
2	CBS	3,918
3	ABC	3,374
4	Fox News Channel	2,410
5	Fox	2,322
6	ESPN	1,703
7	MSNBC	1,261
8	Univision	1,035
9	Telemundo	949
10	TNT	813
11	Ion	802
12	TBS	731
13	CNN	704
14	Hallmark Channel	699
15	HGTV	671
16	USA Network	603
17	Me TV	602
18	History Channel	551
19	INSP	548
20	Grit TV	482
21	Discovery Channel	472
22	Food Network	458
23	TLC	439
24	The CW	382
25	ID	373
26	TV Land	372
27	UniMas	342
28	GSN	330
29	Hallmark Mystery	328
30	Bravo	308
31	FX	305
32	FS1	304
33	Paramount Network	295
34	AMC	291
35	Lifetime	288
36	A&E Network	286
	Newsmax	286
38	ESPN2	284
39	weTV	277
40	Reelz	258
41	Oxygen	255
42	SYFY	244
43	BET	242
44	Bounce TV	235
45	Adult Swim	211
46	Nick-at-Nite	206
47	Nat Geo	201
48	Comedy Central	191
49	Ion Mystery	186
50	Freeform	184
51	Cozi TV	183
52	FETV	181
	Travel Channel	181
54	Sundance TV	177
55	MTV	169
56	Laff	159
57	Animal Planet	156
	Heroes & Icons	156
59	IFC TV	155
60	HLN	151
61	E!	148
	Lifetime Movie Network	148
	Start TV	148
64	FXX	143
65	NFL Network	138
66	CHARGE!	135
	Magnolia Network	135
68	Paris Extra 2	133
69	BBC America	131
	truTV	131
71	Motor Trend	128
72	CMT	127
73	Nickelodeon	124
74	The Weather Channel	121
75	CNBC	120
76	HBO Prime	118
77	Ion Plus	116
78	Great American Family	114
79	Disney Channel	107
	Paris Extra 1	107
81	Comet	103
	Nat Geo Wild	103
	Pop TV	103
84	NewsNation	101
85	Science	99
86	OWN	98
87	Antenna TV	97
88	UP	92
89	MLB Network	90
90	Fox Business Network	87
	VH1	87
92	TUDN	86
93	Disney Junior	83
	GetTV	83
95	NBA TV	81
96	Big Ten Network	79
97	Justice Central	76
98	Estrella	75
99	Dabl	73
100	Telexitos	69
101	TV One	68
102	Nick Jr.	67
103	Hallmark Family	66
104	Golf Channel	62
105	Catchy Comedy	60
	Court TV	60
107	Smithsonian	58
108	Cooking Channel	57
109	TBD TV	54
110	Ovation	53
111	Vice	52
112	NickToons	50
	Story Television	50
	Tennis Channel	50
115	Universo	49
116	FX Movie Channel	48
117	RFD-TV	47
118	FYI	46
119	Showtime Prime	41
120	BET Her	36
121	Starz	35
122	American Heroes Channel	34
	Boomerang	34
	Fox Deportes	34
125	Destination America	33
	ESPNU	33
127	Scripps News	32
128	MTV2	30
129	American Crimes	28
130	Galavision	24
131	AXS TV	23
	Merit Street	23
	TeenNick	23
134	Discovery Family Channel	22
	ESPN Deportes	22
	The Cowboy Channel	22
137	Discovery en Español	21
	Fox Sports 2	21
139	Universal Kids	20
140	Discovery Life Channel	19
	Logo TV	19
142	Disney XD	18
143	Outdoor Channel	16
144	CLEO TV	11
	CNN en Español	11
146	Comedy.TV	10
147	Discovery Familia	9
148	Nat Geo Mundo	7
149	GalaNovelas	5
150	beIN Sport Español	4
	Sportsman Channel	4
152	beIN Sport	2
153	Hogar de HGTV	1

All 153 TV Channels Ranked by 2024 Viewership

We've ranked all 153 linear TV channels by their 2024 viewers.

www.indiewire.com

 

[zippyfrog]

Wow! I did not expect to see ION, ME TV, Grit, and Inspiration so far up on that list. I would have thought all of those would have been under 300,000.

Paris Extra 1 and Paris Extra 2? If those are the 2 overflow Olympics channels, then those numbers are quite a bit skewed because those channels were used for 10ish days?

I see Big 10 Network, but am shocked SEC Network isn't on the list. I find it hard to believe that Nat Geo Mundo doing better than SEC Network.

But to your point - yeah, there are a lot of channels there that aren't doing much...and how many of those channels just play old repeats of shows.

 

[Bruce]

Wow! I did not expect to see ION, ME TV, Grit, and Inspiration so far up on that list. I would have thought all of those would have been under 300,000.

While the numbers are better than what you expected, it is still only about 600,000 viewers, which translates to about 232,000 Households ( out of 131 Million in the United States).

Since Paid Live TV has about 68 Million Households subscribing, that means over 67 Million Households are paying for a channel that is never watch by the vast extreme majority.

It is even worse for other channels, FX only gets 305,000, yet everyone that has Paid Live TV pays a per sub fee for a channel, that only an average of a little over 117,000 Households watch.

But to your point - yeah, there are a lot of channels there that aren't doing much...and how many of those channels just play old repeats of shows.

The vast majority of them, yet subscribers are paying that per sub fee for content that could receive for free on the Pluto TV type channels.

 

[Bruce]

This is not a surprise based on the ratings above-

Hollywood CEOs Show Their Cards on What They Think Is Valuable — and What Isn’t

Companies are beginning to pick winners and losers in their portfolios as they adapt to a rapidly-changing business environment.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

From the above article, Networks, Cable Channels like HBO, Bravo (yech) are the ones to keep, along with Paramount+, Peacock and MAX, because they see growth and where the market is going with the streaming services.

Along with their Film/Television Production Studios.

But Comcast is getting rid of all the rest of their Cable Channels (SyFy, USA, MSNBC, etc), Warner (all of their other Cable Channels-TNT, TBS, CNN, etc).

Paramount, who’s incoming president Jeff Shell told reporters over the summer that he views CBS as a “crown jewel” asset, albeit one where they will “manage it a bit more aggressively for cash flow.” And they laid out a vision to make Paramount+ a dominant player in streaming, perhaps via a tie-up with another player.

But the legacy Viacom cable channels like MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon (this one surprised me) and BET are simply not as high a priority. The company is likely to consolidate its TV networks after the deal is complete, and would consider spinning its cable channels off or selling them, with only CBS off the table completely.

 

[Bruce]

and even more information-

	Q3 2024	Change since Q3 2023
Cable, Satellite, Telco TV homes	51.8 million	-12.3%
Penetration of occupied homes	39.1%	-6%
Homes without cable, satellite, telco TV	80.7 million	+12.8%

US pay live TV penetration to sink to 50% in 2025
(comments on 2023 performance)
US homes with a pay live TV subscription fell by 6.4 million in 2023. Traditional pay TV providers lost 8.4 million subscribers, while vMVPDs gained 2 million. Pay live TV homes will reach 50% or lower in 2025.

Cable, satellite, and telco TV lose 13% of subscribers
The decline in traditional pay TV subscribers accelerated in 2023. In 2022, the industry lost 11% of its subscribers (7.9 million.) 2023 saw the decline increase to 13%, down 8.4 million subscribers. There are now 57.3 million cable, satellite, and telco TV subscribers.

US Traditional Pay TV

The latest US pay Live TV subscriber numbers, with historical information for the previous 7 years.

nscreenmedia.com