It’s tough out there for a linear network. Even inside the major media conglomerates, the buzz is all about a company’s new digital platform, not its legacy channels. Which is a shame, as millions of Americans still watch TV the old-fashioned way: on TV.
The streaming services, of course, rely greatly on current and library programs that first aired on linear TV. Yet broadcast and cable networks are struggling to maintain relevance in the digital age, to the point where they’re suffering their own existential crises: HBO will soon be a major pillar of WarnerMedia’s HBO Max service, while most of FX’s new series are premiering on Hulu first, and even Comcast’s upcoming Peacock service is stealing the nickname of its broadcast sister, NBC.
But the streaming world is where viewers — particularly the younger ones — are flocking, and this year’s ranker of most-watched TV networks demonstrates that. The traditional networks that are heavily invested in live sports and news, two types of programming not easily replicated on a streaming platform, are holding steady. As 2019 draws to a close, most of the linear networks devoted to younger audiences continue to face double-digit year-over-year declines. Variety has obtained a ranker of how the linear broadcast, cable and pay TV networks performed in 2019. Here are some of the notable highs and lows of 2019.
Winners
Fox and Fox News
Rupert Murdoch slimmed down his company this year, and the remaining portions of his stand-alone Fox Corp. are doing just fine without the heft. Led by sports and “The Masked Singer,” Fox ended 2019 as the only major broadcast network experiencing growth: up 4% from last year in total viewers. (It dipped 3% in adults 18-49 — the smallest decline of the Big Four). Fox News, meanwhile, weathered controversy to end the year as TV’s No. 5 network and most-watched cable outlet, with a slight 1% growth. (Not all was completely rosy for the company: Fox Sports 1 was down 9%, while Fox Sports 2 slipped a whopping 50%.)
HBO
The critics didn’t love that “Game of Thrones” finale, but audiences sure did watch. The show’s farewell season was easily the No. 1 scripted series of the year among adults 18-49, landing the top six spots for all six of its episodes in that category. It wasn’t the only bright spot: Even as “Thrones,” “Veep” and “Silicon Valley” ended their runs in 2019, the pay cable leader replenished its pipeline with shows like “Succession” (a phenom in its second season), “Euphoria” and “Watchmen.” That was good enough to bump HBO’s primetime viewership by 13% this year — and that was just in linear.
INSP
INSP began life as the PTL Network — yes, of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker fame. In the 2010s, it pulled back on evangelical/ministry programming to focus on more family-friendly, conservative fare (think “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” and “Highway to Heaven” repeats). The network has now more narrowly focused mostly on westerns (including “Gunsmoke” and “Bonanza”), which has put it in the competition with other classic TV networks like Me TV. The programming mix has paid off: INSP is up 13% this year, and its five-year climb (from 280,000 in 2014 to 619,000 in 2019) is notable in this era of cable declines.
Losers
Cinemax
While HBO feasts on big ratings gains and WarnerMedia focuses its efforts on the launch of HBO Max, another “max” — Cinemax — has been lost in the shuffle. The pay cable network no longer appears to be a priority inside the company, and it shows: Cinemax was down a huge 42% in primetime this year.
Basic Cable General Entertainment Networks
Much has been written about the decline of the broadcast networks — but the erosion of basic cable channels has accelerated. Among major drops in primetime this year among total viewers, AMC was down 22%; FX, down 21%; USA, down 18%; OWN, down 17%; TBS, down 17%; and TNT, down 14%. That, again, explains the shift under way as teams at many of these channels’ studio arms have pivoted to spending more time focused on developing and launching shows for streamers.
Kids and Young Adult TV
It shouldn’t be a surprise that networks targeting young viewers have seen the sharpest decline in linear viewing. But the five-year collapse of these networks in primetime is nonetheless stunning. Disney Channel, for example, went from being a top 10 network in 2014, with 2 million viewers, to just 534,000 viewers this year. Adult Swim, a young-skewing powerhouse during the first half of this decade, saw its primetime average go from 1.3 million in 2014 to 646,000 in 2019. Freeform, when it was ABC Family, averaged 1.1 million in primetime in 2014; now it’s 593,000. And MTV, despite a bit of a rebound, is still down, from 807,000 to 607,000. Yes, most of those disappearing viewers aren’t necessarily gone; they’re now watching shows online. But nonetheless, it’s a reminder that linear ratings are on the way out.
Comedy.TV
The Byron Allen-owned network has the dubious distinction of once again being the least-watched rated network in all of Nielsen, averaging just 1,000 viewers in primetime (and that’s down from its 2,000 average in 2014). Among adults 18-49, the viewership is too small for Nielsen to even measure.
Variety has put together ranker of almost every broadcast and cable network in 2019 (with the exception of certain digital networks, as well as cable networks that aren’t measured by Nielsen), according to total viewers. Below this chart, we also rank the year’s top 50 most-watched networks in the adults 18-49 category.
[For historical record, here are previous year-end network rankers: 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015.]
THE MOST-WATCHED NETWORKS OF 2019 (BY TOTAL VIEWERS)
THE 50 TOP-RATED NETWORKS OF 2019 (BY ADULTS 18-49)
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