The year 2017 marked a time of shakeout in basic cable TV, after a turbulent 2016 in which reality TV stars Donald Trump ran madly into the White House, as viewers continued to seek networks that comforted/reflected them.
USA Network celebrated its 12th consecutive year as the top entertainment network in primetime total viewers, while also finishing first in the adults 18-49 demographic as well as among 18-34 year olds.
Fox News Channel marked its second consecutive year as the most watched basic cable network in primetime. The network held steady year to year in primetime audience overall, hanging onto its considerable Trump-election-cycle crowd. CNN slid slightly compared to the humdinger of an election year, when it had hosted many of those gobsmacking political debates. Meanwhile, MSNBC spiked a whopping 50% in 2017 to take the Most Improved Crown, though some credit is due to Trump and his administration for providing most of its best material.
Speaking of seeing comfort, Hallmark and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries continued to buck the industry-erosion trend in total viewers and the key demo, with lineups of high-concentrated comfort programming.
Also bucking the cable numbers trend was The Weather Channel, though for opposite reasons, as viewers tuned in for the latest info about devastating weather events including the hurricanes that pummeled Puerto Rico, Florida and Texas.
Here are the final rankings:
Basic Cable Rankings 2017
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Source: Nielsen; Live+7 numbers from 12/26/16-12/17/17; Live+SD numbers from 12/29/17-12/31/17
Basic Cable Rankings 2017
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Source: Nielsen; Live+7 numbers from 12/26/16-12/17/17; Live+SD numbers from 12/29/17-12/31/17
