“The Curse of Oak Island” and “When Calls the Heart” were the top two non-sports shows broadcast on cable TV in 2023-2024.
A+E Networks/History Channel, Ricardo Hubbs/Hallmark
ESPN ran a promotional campaign in the mid-2000s called “Without Sports,” which argued that without athletics (and, of course, ESPN’s in-depth sports coverage), the world would be a less interesting and connected place.
The 2024 campaign will ask: “Without sports, would anyone watch cable TV?” The answer is yes, but it will be far fewer than the abundance of live sports available through cable and satellite providers.
Nielsen’s seven-day ratings for the 2023-24 season show sports leading the rankings among total viewers and the key ad sales demographic of adults 18-49. In total viewers, ESPN Monday Night Football With 7.38 million viewers (excluding simulcast on ABC), the show ranked nine of the top 10 and 12 of the top 20 among primetime cable programs, including titles that aired at least three times. ESPN and TNT’s NBA playoff coverage, Major League Baseball postseason and the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament all ranked in the top 10.
“Monday Night Football” announcers Joe Buck and Troy Aikman
Julio Aguilar/Getty Images
Coming in at number 10 is a non-sports show from the History Channel. The Curse of Oak Islandappeared. Three more sports shows made the list, beating out Hallmark’s show as the second non-sports show in the top 20. When the heart callsOf the final six slots, four will be news programs.
If we take sports off the books, The Curse of Oak Island and When the heart calls Though they placed in the top two, their average viewership was 3.14 million and 2.77 million, less than half the number of top sporting events. (By comparison, the two shows rank 75th and 83rd among broadcast network series for 2023-24.) Fox News and MSNBC primetime shows took up six of the top 20 slots, with History, Hallmark, TLC, Discovery, HGTV, USA and Bravo filling the rest.
Sports is even more dominant among adults under 50. Fourteen of the top 15 shows among adults 18-49 are live sports, with the 15th being live TV. WWE Monday Night Raw The American TV show “Teen” is also a sporting event (although the outcome is pre-determined). Sister Wives And Bravo Vanderpump Rules It was the only non-sports program to rank in the top 20 among adults 18-49.
Below are the top 20 primetime cable shows for the 2023-24 season, with and without sports, based on Nielsen seven-day viewership (not including streaming).
