Also, a new report shows powerful growth for women’s sports viewership
As part of an exclusive partnership beginning with this week’s “The Weekly Wrap,” Samba TV will provide its comprehensive first-party TV viewership data to WrapPRO readers recapping the most-watched movies or individual TV programs from the past seven days across both linear television and streaming.
This week’s report stands out for the sheer dominance Netflix held over the streaming landscape and for the strong performance of its “Addams Family” spin-off, “Wednesday,” which notched half of the top 10 most watched individual programs during the Thanksgiving week, according to Samba TV data via its content recognition technology integrated within tens-of-millions of opted-in Smart TVs and through partnerships with leading cable television providers and only for programming viewed on TV devices in the U.S., which is weighted to individual households.
“Wednesday” drew in large-scale, younger and more diverse audiences in its launch week. Both Gen Z and millennial audiences, as well as Hispanic viewers, over-indexed on premiere viewership, proving that great storytelling combined with a diverse cast that speaks to younger audiences is the perfect combination for driving audience engagement.
Turning to linear TV, reality TV shows continued to put up strong numbers with three of the top five most-viewed programs (ABC’s “Bachelor in Paradise” at No. 1, Fox’s “The Masked Singer” at No. 2 and NBC’s “The Voice” at No. 4) coming from the reality TV genre. Only Taylor Sheridan’s mega hit, CBS’ “Yellowstone,” which came in as the third most-viewed linear TV program for the week, managed to crack broadcast’s hold of the top three linear TV programs.
As Americans shifted their attention away from the elections, this past week saw a change in the network nightly news races. For several weeks, “ABC World News Tonight” led the pack as the most-watched nightly news program. The top spot shifted with “NBC Nightly News” claiming the mantle for most cumulative viewers. There’s one big caveat to the news races, ABC News didn’t have a nightly news airing on Nov. 25, which impacted cumulative, full-week comparisons.
Top streaming, linear and nightly news programs, Nov. 19-25, 2022, U.S. (Samba TV)
In addition to the horse race analysis of the top 10 most-watched programs across linear and streaming, Samba TV released a new report outlining the powerful growth of women’s sports in 2022. Across multiple events, women’s sports experienced significant growth this year including March Madness (81% increase year over year), WNBA finals (+171% YoY) and NWSL championship (+453% YoY). The increasing TV audiences not only provide new opportunities for onscreen advertisers but for in-stadium sponsors as well. Data from Relo Metrics found a 200% year-over-year increase in media value for in-stadium sponsorships viewed during the 2022 Women’s Champions League semifinals.
The report also found that the growing viewership audiences for women’s sports are increasingly younger and more affluent coming from every corner of the nation. Both coastal and inland cities over-indexed to the 2022 NWSL championship game, highlighting the broad appeal and reach of women’s sporting events.
“2022 was a breakout year for women’s sports, and a watershed moment for female athletes and the industry overall. The movement surrounding women’s sports and their diverse superfans provides an unprecedented opportunity to reach younger and more affluent audiences from every corner of the nation,” said Samba TV chief marketing officer Meredith Brace.”
While women’s sports have experienced strong growth, they still struggle to earn broadcast and coveted primetime television placements. When given this opportunity, however, the data shows that audiences tune in. Game 1 of the WNBA finals, which aired on network television, drew in more than 1 million viewing households — more than twice the average rating for every other finals game which aired on cable channels.
“Despite a very strong and diverse audience appeal, coverage of women’s sporting events still significantly lags behind where viewership interest tells us it should be,” said Brace. “Broadcasters should take note for 2023 and give women’s sporting events the prime placement they not only deserve but have earned.”
“The Weekly Wrap” excludes live events like sports and news and focuses on the top linear TV shows by household reach and the top streaming programs based on the cumulative weekly reach during the seven-day measurement period. Samba TV analyzes viewership data
Dallas Lawrence is a the SVP and head of communications and brand at Samba TV.
