Happy Thursday War & Peaceniks - ready to go live?
Welcome to the latest installment of our TV 100 Report - the first report on TV’s top programming focussed on 2024. Each month VideoAmp gives me access to their linear TV viewing (based NOT on panels, but on cross-platform TV usage in 39 million homes and 63 million devices), and we analyze the numbers to spot the trends.
YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE FULL JANUARY TV 100 REPORT, HERE.
This data is from January - the first month when football wasn’t on TV constantly, and the first when scripted programming came back to TV, post-strikes. While the hierarchy of audiences did not shift too dramatically - since the NFL and College football games in January were super-sized in importance, hype, and viewership - the makeup of the most watched 100 programs in January was dramatically different than 4Q.
The NFL Playoffs in January amassed 344 million total viewers.
The games and audiences were massive in January, but with less football on TV, Sports took up fewer spots in the top 100 in January than in 4Q, with more than one third of the TV 100 versus more than half all fall.
However, in the month, News surpassed the NFL with 39 of the Top 100 spots to the NFL’s 36. This is due simply to fewer football games on TV, as the regular season ended - but should not undercut the power of the nightly news shows on NBC and ABC.
As the winter TV season unfolds, shiny floor game shows like The Price is Right and The Floor appear in the Top 100 along with The Golden Bachelor and Golden Globes. LIVE programming continues to be the backbone of linear. Yet, the data from the first month of the new year shows that we are crawling out of the shadow of the strike, and Scripted content will have more importance along with non-scripted entertainment.
To little surprise, so far in the new year Sports maintains its gold medal status on linear TV. However, entertainment programming scored far more points in January than it did all fall.
If there was an MVP among non-Sports content, it would have to be Dick Wolf’s Chicago franchise, with Chicago Med and Chicago Fire each taking 3 entries – marking the first appearance in the TV 100 for Scripted programming since we started this report. Fire Country and TV legend Law and Order also make appearances on the Top 100.
Scripted stole space from general entertainment programming which had fewer slots in the TV 100 than in 4Q, but featured a wider array of IP. The Golden Bachelor, The Price Is Right, and Next Level Chef made the TV 100, along with the newly reimagined and somewhat controversial Golden Globes - it should be noted that The Globes’ good numbers now appear to be the start of a trend of awards shows outperforming expectations and clawing their way back to decent audiences and renewed relevancy.
News also continues to be a performance powerhouse, and David Muir continues to be the most popular person on TV, with Lester Holt fast-following. In fact, the two combined to best the mighty NFL for total slots on the Top 100, while the pro and college football playoffs drew substantially larger audiences.
But, IMHO, the big story of January is a continuation and reinforcement of a narrative that started last year: between Sports, News, and Awards, live TV programming made up 88 of the top 100 telecasts in January.
With each of these reports, Prime Time continues to be redefined.
Fringe takes up half of the TV 100, driven primarily by News and Sports. Prime Time took less than one third of the slots in the Top 100 in January.
Audiences now determine what and when their TV Prime Time is - with many of the hours we used to call Prime Time now filled with on demand streaming content, rather than appointment viewing of stuff programmed by schedulers.
Monday Night Football, David Muir, and The Golden Bachelor gave ABC 34 of the Top 100, followed by NBC, driven by Sunday Night Football, Lester Holt, and the strong return of the Chicago franchise. NBC and ABC tripled the entrees of the other networks in the January TV 100.
Sports helped FOX edge out CBS by 1 slot, along with Next Level Chef and The Floor. CBS had a mix of Sports and entertainment in their 11 entries, with football, The Price is Right, Fire Country, and The Golden Globes. College Football and Sportscenter make up ESPN’s 10 slots in the TV 100.
In our first TV 100 Report, we noted that live or near-live programming like Sports, News, and competition reality had and would power linear television viewing disproportionately, regardless of day-part, or demographic. As we start to see Scripted programming make a comeback, it is still quite evident, even against dramas filled wit movie stars, that live Sports and News will control consumption on linear.
It will be interesting to track how much Scripted programming can invade the TV 100 in the coming months now that production is back in full swing. My expectation is that we will see more dramas (and maybe even comedies) crack the TV 100, but some of that will be due to the absence of Football, rather than the size of Scripted viewership.
My assumption comes from the lack of scripted shows in the top preferences of a single demographic group. It’s not that people do not watch Scripted shows on traditional TV, but rather that the most avidly watched dramas and comedies (and movies btw) are now consumed on streaming.
DOWNLOAD THE FULL JANUARY TV 100 REPORT, HERE.
On Monday, March 25, at 4p ET/1p PT, I’ll hold my next webinar. I’ll be doing a command performance of my presentation at SXSW. All the details you need are here, and I hope to see you there!
Until then, remember, all the cool kids start the weekend on Thursday now, so enjoy the weekend!
ESHAP
I haven't owned a TV for 36 years. I recently bought one and watch it about one hour a week.