Fox News Ends June On Top Of Weekly Cable Ratings Charts

HBO’s Game Of Thrones conquered viewers in its season six finale, drawing 8.9 million viewers Sunday night and topping all cable network shows during the week.

Game of Thrones nearly doubled the audience of the second most watched show of the week – Sunday’s BET Awards – during a week otherwise dominated by Fox News, which won the last weekly cable network primetime ratings race for the month of June.

Fox News averaged 1.9 million viewers during the week of June 20 to June 26, topping Disney Channel’s 1.6 million viewers and HGTV’s 1.5 million watchers. USA Network and Discovery Network tied for fourth with an average of 1.4 million viewers.

TBS and ESPN (tied with 1.3 million viewers), TNT (1.2 million), History and FX (tied with 1.1 million) and BET FS1 (tied with 1 million) rounded out the top 10.

Nickelodeon and Fox News tied for the most watched cable network on a 24-hour basis during the week, according to Nielsen.

Most Watched Cable Shows During The Week of June 20 to June 26

Date    Show                                                             Network                     Total Viewers

6/26   Game Of Thrones                                           HBO                            8.9 million

6/26   BET Awards 16                                               BET                             4.5 million

6/20   Rizzoli & Isles                                                 TNT                             4.1 million

6/26   NASCAR Sprint Cup Racing                          FS1                              3.8 million

6/20   Major Crimes                                                  TNT                             3.6 million

6/20   WWE Entertainment                                       USA                             3.5 million

6/26   Break                                                              HBO                            3.5 million

6/24   Adventures In Babysitting                              Disney                          3.4 million

6/20   WWE Monday Night Raw                              USA                             3.4 million

6/20   WWE Monday Night Raw                              USA                             3.4 million

Source: Nielsen

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.