TNT, TBS Slam Dunk Weekly Cable Ratings

TNT, TBS and TruTv all rode early round coverage of the ‘March Madness’ NCAA men’s college basketball tournament to top 10 finishes among the most watched cable networks in primetime last week.

TNT’s 2.34 million viewers and TBS’ 2.25 million watchers bested all other cable networks for the week of March 16 to March 22, according to Nielsen. TruTv’s tournament coverage helped the network finish ninth, its highest finish so far in 2015. 

Fox News, which had won the weekly ratings race the previous two weeks, finished third with 1.85 million viewers, followed by USA and AMC, who both averaged 1.79 million viewers for the period.

HGTV (1.5 2 million viewers); Disney Channel (1.48 million); History (1.40 million); TruTV (1.20 million) and Adult Swim (1.10 million) rounded out the top 10 most watched networks for the week.  

In the total day category, Adult Swim surpassed previous category winners Nickelodeon and Disney to finish first among all cable networks on a 24-hour basis with 1.22 million viewers. Nick (1.19 million viewers); Fox News (1.08 million); Disney Channel (1.09 million) and TNT (1.07 million) followed closely behind.

AMC’s The Walking Dead and its companion series Talking Dead continued to devour audiences in leading all cable shows for the week. Live NCAA college basketball tournament games on TBS, TNT and TruTV accounted for half of  the remaining eight spots among the top 10 most watched telecasts of the week.  

DateShowsNetworkViewers

3/22                      The Walking Dead                                                 AMC                    13.7 million

3/22                      Talking Dead                                                         AMC                     6.0 million

3/16                      WWE Monday Night Raw (9pm-10pm)                 USA                     3.9 million

3/16                      WWE Monday Night Raw (10pm-11:06pm)          USA                     3.9 million

3/21                      NCAA College Basketball Tournament                 TBS                      3.9 million

3/16                      WWE Monday Night Raw (8pm-9pm)                    USA                      3.8 million

3/22                      NCAA College Basketball Tournament                  TNT                       3.7 million

3/17                      Rizzoli & Isles                                                         TNT                       3.6 million

3/21                      NCAA College Basketball Tournament                   TNT                       3.5 million

3/22                      NCAA College Basketball Tournament                   TruTV                     3.5 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.