Cable is holding its own, and then some
- Repeats of popular broadcast series that are now syndicated drive audiences to cable
- News channels lose in non-election year
- Cable does better than broadcast networks as far as viewer time
TV fans aren't ready to cut their cord to cable.
Viewers spent a record 17.2 hours per week watching ad-supported cable networks in 2013, rebounding from a slight dip last year, while the big four networks claimed a combined 7.5 hours, another low.
"With the growth in on-demand viewing, Hulu and Netflix, you'd think there'd be less viewing of cable TV as a whole," says Turner Broadcasting research chief Jack Wakshlag. "But it's at the highest it's ever been."
The gains weren't shared equally. AMC's The Walking Dead and A&E's Duck Dynasty ranked among the top 25 of all TV shows and, remarkably, in the top five among the young-adult viewers prized by advertisers. But half of the top cable networks saw prime-time audience declines.
Highlights:
TBS surges. After a seven-year run by USA, TBS reclaimed the top spot in prime time among adults ages 18 to 49, thanks largely to a steady rerun diet of The Big Bang Theory, which remains TV's top-rated comedy in originals on CBS.
USA on top. USA was first among all viewers, despite an 8% decline, and while ratings for its own Modern Family reruns are climbing, they're not approaching Bang levels. Across the full day, Nickelodeon (up 4% from a tough 2012) ranked first.
'Dead,' 'Dynasty' rule.Dead's rise is remarkable: With more than 16 million viewers — including DVR-delayed viewing up to seven days later — it ranks seventh among all shows in prime time but first among young-adult viewers, ahead of NBC's Sunday Night Football and Big Bang. That helped push AMC, which also scored with the final season of Breaking Bad, up 18% for the year. A&E rose 9% thanks to Dynasty.
News channels dip. Predictably, after 2012's superheated election season, prime-time ratings for the major cable news networks are down. Leader Fox News fell 9%, No. 2 MSNBC dropped 28%, and CNN slipped 15% (though it is up a slight 3% across the total programming day).
History lessons. History ranked fourth for the year, behind only USA, Disney Channel and ESPN. Adult Swim and Disney, both up, tied as the top network among viewers ages 12 to 34, well ahead of ESPN, MTV and Comedy Central, all of which declined.
2013's top original cable series (viewers in millions)
The Walking Dead (AMC) 16.5
Duck Dynasty (A&E) 13.4
The Bible (History) 13.2
Breaking Bad (AMC) 8.5
Rizzoli & Isles (TNT) 8.3
Sons of Anarchy (FX) 7.3
Major Crimes (TNT) 6.9
Game of Thrones (HBO) 6.4
American Horror Story (FX) 6.1
Longmire (A&E) 6.0
Live plus seven-day viewing for 12/28/12-12/8/13
Source: Nielsen