A straight look at how the basic cable networks ranked in 2015 is interesting, but doesn’t tell the whole story of 2015, a year in which ratings for many of these networks fell off steeply.
Take ESPN. The sports network still led all of basic cable with a seven-day average of 2.022 million viewers in primetime, it was down 9 and 8 percent among adults 18-49 and viewers, respectively, reports The Wrap.
Still, at least ESPN has plenty of viewers. Other far less-watched networks also were down, with truTV, even with its 2014 brand refresh, down 26% compared to last year, the biggest drop of any network on the list. USA fell 16 percent to third place behind TBS, even with one of this year’s most critically-acclaimed new hits, Mr. Robot.
Meanwhile, CNBC and INSP (formerly Inspiration Network) were the two nets to see the most primetime viewer growth compared to last year, with both up 39 percent (although keep in mind both of those nets start with small viewership so growth percentages tend to be larger). And CNN, even before the 2016 election year, grew 28 percent.
Read more: The Wrap
Here are the Top 50 basic cable channels of 2015, ranked by their seven-day averages in primetime total viewers:
ESPN: 2.022 million
TBS: 1.876 million
USA: 1.850 million
Disney: 1.784 million
Fox News: 1.775 million
TNT: 1.766 million
Discovery: 1.549 million
History: 1.536 million
HGTV: 1.498 million
AMC: 1.443 million
Adult Swim: 1.307 million
FX: 1.251 million
Food Network: 1.129 million
Lifetime: 1.065 million
Nick at Nite: 1.027 million
Syfy: 1.006 million
ABC Family: 985,000
A&E: 959,000
TLC: 944,000
ID: 891,000
Hallmark: 881,000
Bravo: 872,000
Spike: 790,000
CNN: 672,000
Animal Planet: 652,000
Disney Junior: 644,000
VH1: 642,000
TV Land: 608,000
MTV: 606,000
BET: 598,000
MSNBC: 576,000
Comedy Central: 569,000
E!: 568,000
National Geographic Channel: 544,000* (rounded tie)
OWN: 544,000* (rounded tie)
WETV: 523,000
truTV: 476,000
Lifetime Movie Network 462,000
Nick Jr.: 440,000
Travel: 438,000
GSN: 434,000
ESPN2: 432,000
FXX: 413,000
Hallmark Movies: 410,000
FS1: 406,000
INSP: 389,000
NBCSN: 381,000
CNBC: 375,000
Disney XD: 370,000
H2: 348,000
Averages run between Dec. 29, 2014, to Nov. 29, 2015.
[Images courtesy of The Wrap.]
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