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

 

[Bruce]

Now Total Viewer ratings 2024, includes Live+7 (DVR)

THE MOST-WATCHED NETWORKS OF 2024 (BY TOTAL VIEWERS)

Rank	NETWORK	VIEWERS (000)	% CHANGE
1.	CBS	5,055	+12%
2.	NBC	4,990	+10%
3.	ABC	3,861	-1%
4.	Fox	2,841	-15%
5.	Fox News	2,470	+30%
6.	ESPN	1,674	-2%
7.	MSNBC	1,263	+4%
8.	Univision	1,044	-17%
9.	Telemundo	965	+12%
10.	Ion	833	-16%
11.	TNT	815	-13%
12.	Hallmark Channel	812	-13%
13.	HGTV	773	-18%
14.	TBS	738	-6%
15.	CNN	707	+20%
16.	USA	673	-2%
17.	History	655	-15%
18.	Me TV	620	-2%
19.	Discovery Channel	577	-18%
20.	INSP	558	-21%
21.	TLC	542	-28%
22.	Food Network	535	-20%
23.	Grit	494	-4%
24.	The CW	445	-2%
25.	Bravo	436	-24%
26.	Investigation Discovery	429	-21%
27.	Hallmark Mystery	376	-17%
28.	TV Land	374	-20%
29.	Unimás	351	-6%
30.	A&E	344	-20%
31.	FX	343	-12%
32.	Paramount Network	342	-1%
33.	Lifetime	340	-23%
34.	Game Show Network	333	-2%
35.	AMC	317	-14%
36.	Fox Sports 1	312	+1%
37.	We TV	301	-18%
38.	Newsmax	294	+31%
39.	Reelzchannel	293	-13%
40.	ESPN 2	286	-11%
41.	Oxygen	281	-10%
42.	Syfy	262	-8%
43.	BET	261	-22%
44.	Bounce TV	237	-6%
45.	Nat Geo	228	-24%
46.	MTV	225	-12%
47.	Adult Swim	210	-3%
48.	Nick at Nite	208	-15%
49.	Freeform	200	-21%
50.	Comedy Central	195	-16%
51.	Travel	193	-15%
52.	Court TV Mystery	186	+7%
53.	Cozi	184	-6%
	Family Entertainment TV	184	-20%
55.	Sundance	180	-13%
56.	Heroes and Icons	163	-4%
57.	Animal Planet	160	-26%
58.	Laff	159	+5%
	LMN	159	-17%
60.	E!	158	-23%
61.	IFC	155	-12%
62.	HBO	154	-7%
63.	HLN	151	-9%
	Start TV	151	-21%
65.	Magnolia Network	147	-14%
66.	FXX	145	-29%
	NFL Network	145	-26%
68.	BBC America	137	-23%
	Motor Trend	137	-26%
70.	Charge!	136	+33%
71.	Paris Extra 2	134	n/a
72.	CMT	133	-21%
73.	Nickelodeon	131	-31%
	TruTV	131	+9%
75.	Great American Family	128	-8%
76.	Weather Channel	126	+6%
77.	CNBC	122	-25%
78.	Ion Plus	116	-11%
79.	Nat Geo Wild	112	-29%
80.	Disney	110	-17%
81.	Newsnation	108	-1%
82.	OWN	107	-27%
83.	Paris Extra 1	107	n/a
84.	Pop TV	106	-12%
	Up	106	-15%
86.	Comet	105	+4%
87.	Science	101	-25%
88.	Antenna TV	96	-16%
89.	VH1	95	-38%
90.	Fox Business Channel	90	-1%
	MLB Network	90	+3%
92.	TUDN	87	-22%
93.	Disney Jr.	84	-37%
	Get TV	84	-8%
95.	NBA TV	83	-2%
	Big Ten Network	80	+25%
97.	Justice Central	79	+508%
98.	TV One	78	-10%
99.	Hallmark Family	74	-10%
100.	Dabl	73	+38%
	Estrella TV	73	-10%
102.	Nick Jr.	68	-39%
	Telexitos	68	+39%
104.	Golf	66	-21%
105.	Court TV	64	+14%
106.	Smithsonian	62	-29%
107.	Catchy Comedy	60	-13%
108.	Ovation	59	-25%
	Viceland	59	-3%
110.	Cooking Channel	58	-31%
111.	TBD TV	54	+80%
112.	Nicktoons	51	-12%
	RFD-TV	51	-6%
	Story Television	51	+28%
	Tennis	51	-7%
116.	FX Movie Channel	50	-26%
117.	Universo	49	+9%
118.	Showtime	48	-38%
	FYI	48	-25%
120.	Starz	43	-25%
121.	BET Her	40	-2%
122.	American Heroes	35	-27%
	ESPN U	35	-20%
124.	Boomerang	34	-17%
	Fox Deportes	34	-17%
126.	Destination America	33	-20%
	MTV 2	33	-31%
	Scripps News	33	n/a
129.	American Crimes	28	+460%
130.	Merit Street	27	n/a
131.	AXS TV	26	-26%
132.	Galavision	25	-31%
133.	Teen Nick	24	-53%
	The Cowboy Channel	24	-8%
135.	Discovery Family Channel	23	-18%
	ESPN Deportes	23	+15%
137.	Discovery En Español	22	-33%
138.	Fox Sports 2	21	+5%
139.	Discovery Life Channel	20	+0%
	Logo	20	-43%
	Universal Kids	20	-5%
142.	Disney XD	18	-44%
143.	Outdoor Channel	17	-23%
144.	Cleo TV	11	-27%
	CNN En Español	11	+38%
	Comedy TV	11	+57%
147.	Discovery Familia	9	-31%
148.	Nat Geo Mundo	6	-45%
149.	Galanovelas	5	-29%
	Sportsman Channel	5	-29%
151.	BEIN Sport Español	2	-33%
	BEIN Sport	2	-33%
153.	Hogar De HGTV	1	-50%
	Accuweather	n/a	n/a
	Azteca	n/a	n/a

https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/most-watched-channels-2024-tv-network-ratings-1236259845/

 

[Bruce]

The world when Cable/Satellite had 100 Million subscribers-

THE MOST-WATCHED NETWORKS OF 2017 (BY TOTAL VIEWERS)

​

TOTAL VIEWER RANK	NETWORK	2017 VIEWERS	2016 VIEWERS	% CHANGE
1	CBS	7,996,000	8,845,000	-10%
2	NBC	7,284,000	8,494,000	-14%
3	ABC	5,592,000	6,315,000	-11%
4	Fox	4,733,000	5,068,000	-7%
5	Fox News Channel	2,423,000	2,424,000	0%
6	ESPN	1,904,000	1,855,000	+3%
7	Univision	1,666,000	1,933,000	-14%
8	USA Network	1,662,000	1,771,000	-3%
9	MSNBC	1,615,000	1,079,000	+50%
10	The CW	1,590,000	1,768,000	-10%
11	HGTV	1,530,000	1,580,000	-3%
12	TBS	1,500,000	1,648,000	-9%
13	Telemundo	1,379,000	1,507,000	-8%
14	Discovery	1,352,000	1,423,000	-5%
15	History	1,326,000	1,364,000	-3%
16	Nickelodeon	1,314,000	1,313,000	+0%
tie	TNT	1,314,000	1,574,000	-17%
18	Ion	1,270,000	1,281,000	-1%
19	Hallmark Channel	1,186,000	1,088,000	+9%
20	Investigation Discovery	1,097,000	996,000	+10%
21	AMC	1,088,000	1,300,000	-16%
22	CNN	1,067,000	1,273,000	-16%
23	FX	1,033,000	1,134,000	-9%
24	Disney Channel	1,023,000	1,343,000	-24%
25	A&E	989,000	858,000	+15%
26	Food Network	983,000	1,067,000	-8%
27	TLC	971,000	885,000	+10%
28	Adult Swim	963,000	1,213,000	-21%
29	Bravo	924,000	941,000	-2%
30	Nick at Nite	881,000	1,015,000	-13%
31	Cartoon Network	846,000	969,000	-13%
32	Lifetime	838,000	984,000	-15%
33	Freeform	760,000	853,000	-11%
34	HBO (Premium)	726,000	677,000	+7%
35	TV Land	709,000	615,000	+15%
36	Unimas	703,000	614,000	+14%
37	Hallmark Movies & Mysteries	694,000	550,000	+26%
38	VH1	647,000	642,000	+1%
39	Syfy	641,000	707,000	-9%
40	Nick Jr.	639,000	617,000	+4%
41	Me TV	617,000	596,000	+4%
42	MTV	578,000	584,000	-1%
43	Spike TV	563,000	705,000	-20%
44	Animal Planet	559,000	596,000	-6%
45	Disney Junior	545,000	615,000	-11%
46	OWN	534,000	572,000	-7%
47	INSP	528,000	439,000	+20%
48	Travel Channel	491,000	479,000	+3%
49	BET	475,000	445,000	+7%
50	WE TV	468,000	502,000	-7%
51	E!	465,000	544,000	-15%
52	Fox Sports 1	458,000	485,000	-6%
53	LMN	455,000	512,000	-11%
54	National Geographic	451,000	515,000	-12%
55	Comedy Central	416,000	514,000	-19%
56	Tru TV	386,000	408,000	-5%
57	GSN	376,000	441,000	-15%
58	WGN America	373,000	340,000	+10%
59	FXX	357,000	401,000	-11%
60	Grit	345,000	342,000	+1%
61	ESPN 2	336,000	350,000	-4%
62	NBC Sports Network	329,000	399,000	-18%
63	NFL Network	326,000	308,000	+6%
64	CNBC	324,000	333,000	-3%
65	CMT	306,000	270,000	+13%
66	HLN	300,000	324,000	-7%
tie	Science	300,000	318,000	-6%
68	Bounce TV	298,000	300,000	-1%
69	Oxygen	298,000	244,000	+22%
70	BBC America	279,000	231,000	+21%
71	DIY	271,000	256,000	+6%
72	Nat Geo Wild	268,000	266,000	+1%
73	Velocity	261,000	221,000	+18%
74	The Weather Channel	248,000	218,000	+14%
75	Estrella	241,000	216,000	+12%
76	Sundance TV	236,000	215,000	+10%
tie	Starz (Premium)	236,000	253,000	-7%
78	Nicktoons	210,000	209,000	+0%
79	Disney XD	205,000	293,000	-30%
80	Showtime (Premium)	202,000	240,000	-16%
81	IFC	187,000	187,000	+0%
tie	Univision Deportes	187,000	217,000	-14%
83	Cozi TV	183,000	172,000	+6%
84	Reelzchannel	181,000	173,000	+5%
85	Destination America	178,000	194,000	-8%
86	Escape	174,000	193,000	-10%
tie	Pop	174,000	174,000	+0%
88	Laff	170,000	n/a	n/a
tie	TV One	170,000	205,000	-17%
90	Galavision	169,000	166,000	+2%
91	American Heroes Channel	168,000	179,000	-6%
92	MLB Network	160,000	148,000	+8%
93	FYI	152,000	192,000	-21%
94	Starz Encore (Premium)	149,000	178,000	-16%
95	Teennick	145,000	183,000	-21%
96	Cooking Channel	139,000	145,000	-4%
97	Boomerang	138,000	186,000	-26%
98	FX Movie Channel	131,000	133,000	-2%
99	RFD-TV	129,000	138,000	-7%
100	Golf Channel	128,000	131,000	-2%
tie	UP	128,000	127,000	+1%
102	Cinemax (Premium)	121,000	113,000	+7%
103	Discovery Family	118,000	148,000	-20%
104	MTV 2	118,000	156,000	-24%
105	Universal Kids	117,000	168,000	-30%
106	NBA TV	111,000	117,000	-5%
107	Fox Business Network	107,000	135,000	-21%
108	Great American Country	104,000	100,000	+4%
tie	Viceland	104,000	179,000	-42%
110	Azteca America	98,000	107,000	-8%
111	Smithsonian Channel	97,000	104,000	-7%
112	Discovery En Español	89,000	109,000	-18%
113	ESPN U	87,000	96,000	-9%
114	Ovation	83,000	79,000	+5%
115	Discovery Life	77,000	89,000	-13%
116	Logo	65,000	74,000	-12%
117	Universo	58,000	77,000	-25%
118	Baby First TV	55,000	50,000	+10%
119	BET Her	55,000	60,000	-8%
120	El Rey	54,000	54,000	+0%
121	Fox Deportes	53,000	61,000	-13%
122	Fuse	49,000	59,000	-17%
123	Tennis Channel	46,000	n/a	n/a
124	ESPN Desportes	41,000	40,000	+2%
125	Fox Sports 2	37,000	33,000	+12%
126	Cine Latino	34,000	29,000	+17%
127	Chiller	33,000	64,000	-48%
128	WAPA America	31,000	22,000	+41%
129	BEIN Sport Español	30,000	30,000	+0%
130	Discovery Familia	29,000	41,000	-29%
131	Nat Geo Mundo	28,000	38,000	-26%
132	Justice Central	21,000	n/a	n/a
133	MTV Classic	16,000	32,000	-50%
134	BEIN Sport	14,000	14,000	+0%
135	Fox Life	4,000	4,000	+0%
136	Comedy.TV	2,000	n/a	n/a

 

[Bruce]

a little example of the differences between 2017 and 2024.

2017 FX-1,033,000
2024 FX-343,000
a drop of over 66%

2017 TNT-1,314,000
2024 TNT-815,000
a drop of over 37%

2017 USA-1,662,000
2024 USA-673,000
a drop of over 59%

2017 Disney XD-205,000
2024 Disney XD-18,000
a drop of over 90%

2017 Disney Channel-1,023,000
2024 Disney Channel-110,000
a drop of over 89%

almost all of the numbers are equally as bad.

Stick a fork in it.