Top US cable entertainment channel rankings unveiled

USA Network, home of The Sinner and Banijay’s forthcoming Temptation Island reboot, was the most watched ad-supported cable entertainment channel Stateside in 2018.

The network marks its 13th year at the top of Nielsen’s annual rankings for cable entertainment channels in non-news and non-sports categories.

It garnered an average of 1.48m across total viewers and drew an average of 590,000 in the coveted 18-49 year-old demo.

USA Network’s top show was the second instalment of the Jessica Biel exec-produced anthology series The Sinner (pictured), as well as The Purge. Top unscripted series include Chrisley Knows Best and WWE spin-off Miz & Mrs.

The channel’s strong performance, however, was 9% down from 2017 figures in total viewing, and 12% down for the 18-49 demo.

Rounding out the top 10 channels for total viewing was HGTV (1.45m), TBS (1.32m), TNT (1.26m), History (1.21m), Hallmark (1.18m), Discovery (1.14m), Investigation Discovery (1.10m), TLC (1.03m) and A&E Network (1.03m).

The only channels to have grown viewership across the year were TLC, which grew its average audience by 8%, A&E Network (5%) and Hallmark (4%). TNT stayed flat with 0% growth.

In the 18-49 demo, USA Network was followed by TBS (570,000), TNT (560,000), MTV (440,000), Discovery (430,000), Bravo (420,000), A&E Network (410,000), FX (410,000), Adult Swim (400,000) and VH1 (390,000).

Of the group, only three channels grew average audiences, with MTV reporting an impressive 15% growth in average viewership, while A&E Network saw 3% growth and TNT reported a 1% rise.

Nielsen figures were first reported by Deadline.

Top TV of 2018

Nielsen rankings of top regularly scheduled programmes reveals that ABC’s now-cancelled Roseanne was top of the US TV grid in 2018.

The show, which was pulled over the summer following controversial tweets by creator and star Roseanne Barr, drew an average audience of 19.96m.

NBC Sunday Night Football followed with 19.56m viewers, along with CBS’s The Big Bang Theory (18.33m), CBS’s NCIS (16.72m), NBC’s This Is Us (16.59m).

In sixth spot was CBS’s Young Sheldon (15.67m), NBC’s new offering Manifest, ABC’s The Good Doctor (14.52m), NBC’s America’s Got Talent (14.27m) and CBS’s Bull (13.51m).