TBS Slam Dunks Weekly Cable Ratings Win

By R. Thomas Umstead
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

TBS rode its coverage of the March Madness college basketball tournament to a first place finish on last week’s prime time cable ratings charts.

TBS averaged 3.1 million viewers to top all cable networks for the week of March 19-24, according to Nielsen. TBS’s win ended Fox News Channel's weekly prime time winning streak at nine consecutive weeks. The cable news network finished second with 2.2 million viewers.  

MSNBC (2 million viewers), HGTV (1.5 million) and USA Network rounded out the top five.  

Fox News finished first among total viewers for the 11th consecutive week, averaging 1.3 million viewers, followed by MSNBC, Nickelodeon, TBS and CNN, said Nielsen.

R. Thomas Umstead
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.