115 Cable Channels Ranked by 2019 Viewership - Yes, Comedy.TV Is Still Dead Last

2019 is finally coming to an end, taking with it a decade that saw major changes in the way people watched television. But before we close the book on 2019 and dive into 2020, let’s look back at how the final year of the 2010s treated our favorite cable channels by employing the most hallowed form of year-end content — the ranked list.

For the fourth year in a row, Fox News Channel finished 2019 as the most-watched network on cable, according to Nielsen’s Live + Same Day ratings. That claim holds true for both primetime (8 p.m. to 11 p.m.) and total day (6 a.m. to 6 a.m.). As a matter of fact, Fox News is currently enjoying its most-watched year ever in primetime.

ESPN was again runner-up in primetime, but MSNBC bumped the world’s most expensive cable channel to third in total day rankings.

MSNBC, HGTV and Hallmark Channel complete the Top 5 primetime cable networks, according to Nielsen’s Live + Same Day data through Dec. 9. TBS, TNT, USA Network, CNN and History round out the Top 10.

Once again, Comedy.TV ranked dead last in the study, which encompassed 115 networks. The network averaged a paltry 1,000 total viewers across both primetime and the full day, performing even worse than such little-watched networks as Newsy, MTV Classic, beIN Sports and beIN Sports Español.

Looking ahead, Fox News, MSNBC and CNN should all have a pretty excellent 2020 with the presidential election set for next November.

The below Nielsen rankers are in thousands, which means Fox News averaged 2.481 million primetime viewers, just 1,000 fewer total viewers than in 2018. For this story we ignored delayed viewing, which skews hard against news and sports programming. The rankings would change if we included catch-up tuning.

See the full rankings for both primetime and total-day viewership, below.

Primetime (Mon-Sun, 8-11 p.m.)

Rank	Network	P2+ AA (000)
1	FOX NEWS CHANNEL	2,481
2	ESPN	1,784
3	MSNBC	1,753
4	HOME AND GARDEN TV	1,199
5	HALLMARK CHANNEL	1,100
6	TBS NETWORK	1,055
7	TURNER NETWORK TELEVISION	1,050
8	USA NETWORK	1,042
9	CNN	972
10	HISTORY	969
11	TLC	945
12	A&E NETWORK	935
13	INVESTIGATION DISCOVERY	910
14	DISCOVERY CHANNEL	894
15	FOOD NETWORK	823
16	TV LAND	609
17	FX	605
18	AMC	600
19	BRAVO	598
20	INSP	589
21	LIFETIME TELEVISION	559
22	HALLMARK MOVIES & MYSTERIES	500
23	FREEFORM	494
24	ADULT SWIM	493
25	SYFY	476
26	NICK-AT-NITE	473
27	VH1	438
28	ANIMAL PLANET	426
29	MTV	422
29	WETV	422
31	TRAVEL CHANNEL	401
32	GSN	400
32	NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC	400
34	PARAMOUNT	396
35	THE CARTOON NETWORK	369
36	NICK JR	366
37	COMEDY CENTRAL	339
38	OPRAH WINFREY NETWORK	329
39	BLACK ENTERTAINMENT TV	328
40	NBC SPORTS NETWORK	327
41	FOX SPORTS 1	318
42	LIFETIME MOVIE NETWORK	311
43	E!	302
44	ESPN2	300
45	WGN AMERICA	298
46	OXYGEN MEDIA	275
47	SCIENCE	271
48	HLN	267
49	NFL NETWORK	265
50	FXX	251
51	MOTOR TREND	240
52	NAT GEO WILD	236
53	TRUTV	229
54	CMT	222
55	CNBC	218
56	BBC-AMERICA	216
57	IFC TV	214
58	SUNDANCE TV	212
59	FAMILY ENT TV	187
60	DIY NETWORK	186
61	THE WEATHER CHANNEL	180
62	NICKTOONS	173
63	TUDN	172
64	COOKING CHANNEL	140
65	MLB NETWORK	137
66	REELZCHANNEL	135
67	POP	128
68	FX MOVIE CHANNEL	127
69	GALAVISION	126
70	DISNEY XD	124
71	TV ONE	121
72	FYI	104
73	GOLF CHANNEL	101
74	SMITHSONIAN	100
75	FOX BUSINESS NETWORK	97
76	AMERICAN HEROES CHANNEL	94
77	BOOMERANG	93
78	UP	92
79	RFD-TV	87
80	GREAT AMERICAN COUNTRY	86
81	NBA-TV	85
81	TEENNICK	85
83	VICELAND	77
84	HALLMARK DRAMA	75
85	MTV2	74
86	DESTINATION AMERICA	72
87	DISCOVERY EN ESPANOL	69
87	ESPNU	69
87	OVATION	69
90	UNIVERSO	68
91	TENNIS CHANNEL	65
92	AXS TV	64
93	BIG TEN NETWORK	61
94	FOX DEPORTES	57
94	LOGO	57
96	DISCOVERY FAMILY CHANNEL	51
96	DISCOVERY LIFE CHANNEL	51
98	BET HER	47
99	ESPN DEPORTES	45
100	DISCOVERY FAMILIA	36
101	ESPNEWS	35
102	BABY FIRST TV	34
103	CINE LATINO	31
104	UNIVERSAL KIDS	29
105	FUSE	28
106	CNN EN ESPANOL	26
107	EL REY	25
108	FOX SPORTS 2	17
109	BEIN SPORT ESPANOL	11
110	JUSTICE CENTRAL	11
111	MTV CLASSIC	9
112	BEIN SPORT	5
113	NEWSY	3
113	ESN LIFESTYLES	3
115	COMEDY.TV	1

Total Day (Mon-Sun, 6 a.m. – 6 a.m.)

Rank	Network	P2+ AA (000)
1	FOX NEWS CHANNEL	1,394
2	MSNBC	990
3	ESPN	719
4	NICKELODEON	687
5	HOME AND GARDEN TV	672
6	INVESTIGATION DISCOVERY	657
7	CNN	649
8	HALLMARK CHANNEL	605
9	USA NETWORK	514
10	FOOD NETWORK	513
10	TURNER NETWORK TELEVISION	513
12	HISTORY	499
13	A&E NETWORK	478
14	TV LAND	463
15	TBS NETWORK	458
16	TLC	395
17	DISCOVERY CHANNEL	388
18	INSP	357
19	HALLMARK MOVIES & MYSTERIES	349
20	THE CARTOON NETWORK	332
21	LIFETIME TELEVISION	318
22	AMC	311
23	FX	304
24	FREEFORM	290
25	GSN	284
26	PARAMOUNT	271
27	MTV	266
28	WETV	263
29	ANIMAL PLANET	256
29	NICK JR	256
31	TRAVEL CHANNEL	249
32	SYFY	247
33	HLN	234
34	COMEDY CENTRAL	228
35	VH1	226
36	BRAVO	225
37	BLACK ENTERTAINMENT TV	223
38	WGN AMERICA	218
39	NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC	217
40	LIFETIME MOVIE NETWORK	212
41	OXYGEN MEDIA	210
42	OPRAH WINFREY NETWORK	185
43	SCIENCE	174
44	THE WEATHER CHANNEL	170
45	E!	166
46	ESPN2	162
47	FOX SPORTS 1	161
48	NICKTOONS	154
49	CMT	151
50	FXX	148
50	MOTOR TREND	148
52	NAT GEO WILD	139
53	NBC SPORTS NETWORK	137
54	TRUTV	135
55	SUNDANCE TV	134
56	BBC-AMERICA	132
57	CNBC	126
57	NFL NETWORK	126
59	IFC TV	112
60	DIY NETWORK	111
61	FOX BUSINESS NETWORK	107
62	BOOMERANG	103
63	DISNEY XD	96
64	GOLF CHANNEL	92
65	FAMILY ENT TV	90
66	FX MOVIE CHANNEL	87
67	COOKING CHANNEL	83
68	TV ONE	82
69	TEENNICK	79
70	REELZCHANNEL	76
71	MLB NETWORK	72
71	AMERICAN HEROES CHANNEL	72
73	UP	66
74	FYI	65
75	POP	64
76	MTV2	62
77	SMITHSONIAN	59
78	GALAVISION	54
79	TUDN	53
80	GREAT AMERICAN COUNTRY	50
81	TENNIS CHANNEL	49
82	HALLMARK DRAMA	48
83	LOGO	47
83	DESTINATION AMERICA	47
85	OVATION	41
86	NBA-TV	40
87	VICELAND	37
88	ESPNU	35
89	UNIVERSO	33
89	BABY FIRST TV	33
91	ESPNEWS	32
91	BET HER	32
91	DISCOVERY LIFE CHANNEL	32
91	BIG TEN NETWORK	32
95	DISCOVERY EN ESPANOL	31
96	UNIVERSAL KIDS	30
97	DISCOVERY FAMILY CHANNEL	29
98	RFD-TV	27
99	AXS TV	26
100	CINE LATINO	22
100	EL REY	22
102	FOX DEPORTES	21
103	ESPN DEPORTES	19
104	FUSE	16
105	DISCOVERY FAMILIA	15
105	CNN EN ESPANOL	15
107	FOX SPORTS 2	12
107	BEIN SPORT ESPANOL	12
109	BEIN SPORT	6
109	JUSTICE CENTRAL	6
109	MTV CLASSIC	6
112	NEWSY	3
113	ESN LIFESTYLES	2
114	COMEDY.TV	1

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