The debut of MLW on Reelz last night prompts us to revisit the subject of TV network household coverage. It’s important to consider because the number of homes a network is available in naturally influences the number of viewers who end up watching a given program.
According to Nielsen estimates as of this month, WWE and AEW programs still have the widest coverage, reaching more than 70 million traditional TV homes on USA Network, TNT, and TBS.
Reelz is in 37.9 million traditional TV homes, slightly more than AXS TV, where Impact Wrestling and New Japan air in 35 million.
By a factor of three, Reelz is an improvement in reach from BeIN Sports, where MLW was available in 10.8 million. MLW doesn’t appear on the schedule on the BeIN Sports website, so it’s unclear if the promotion’s programs will continue airing on BeIN Sports.
WWE programming on A&E, like the Legends Biography series, is available in 67.8 million traditional TV homes.
VICE, which recently aired the Tales from the Territories series, is in 49.7 million.
This data doesn’t include households that may have access to a given network via a vMVPD subscription like YouTube TV, Sling, or Hulu Live TV. According to LRG Research, vMVPD services accounted for 8 million U.S. households in the third quarter of 2022.
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FS1, where Smackdown is preempted a few times a year, is in 73.7 million traditional TV homes. And Syfy, where Raw and NXT were preempted last year during the Winter Olympics, is in 65 million.
We have more limited Nielsen data for vMVPD households by network. In the case of TBS and TNT, vMVPD households add an additional 1.8 million households each. For USA Network, vMVPD adds an additional 1.0 million households. For A&E, it adds 894,000. For VICE, it adds 941,000. We don’t have vMVPD household data for other networks airing wrestling like AXS TV and Reelz.
Traditional as well as vMVPD television viewership is tracked by Nielsen and we believe is included in the TV ratings data we report.
Broadcast networks like Fox are not included in this data. The reach of Fox exceeds any cable network since it’s available throughout the country over the air to those without any pay-TV access and on many (probably most) traditional cable systems.
Peacock, where WWE’s premium live events are exclusively streamed, had 20 million subscribers at the end of 2022, all in the U.S., according to Comcast’s latest earnings report.
Though the time people in the U.S. spend watching streaming is growing over time, traditional TV viewing (even excluding vMVPD watch time) still makes up a slim majority of the time people spend watching television, according to Nielsen’s report from December.
The below list isn’t an exhaustive account of all cable networks available on every system but includes many prominent ones, including all those currently airing wrestling programs that we regularly cover in our TV ratings reports.
The percentages below showing U.S. household coverage are based on a denominator of 123.8 million homes nationwide. Of those, 78.7 million (64%) have either traditional cable or vMVPD access.
Cable network: traditional TV U.S. households (% of U.S. households)
- A&E NETWORK: 67,840,000 (54.8%)
- ACCUWEATHER: 31,255,000 (25.2%)
- ADULT SWIM: 70,061,000 (56.6%)
- AMC: 69,751,000 (56.3%)
- AMERICAN HEROES CHANNEL: 31,361,000 (25.3%)
- AMTV: 71,010,000 (57.4%)
- ANIMAL PLANET: 73,008,000 (59.0%)
- AXS TV: 34,984,000 (28.3%)
- BABY FIRST TV: 34,315,000 (27.7%)
- BBC-AMERICA: 64,221,000 (51.9%)
- BEIN SPORT: 10,805,000 (8.7%)
- BEIN SPORT ESPANOL: 7,211,000 (5.8%)
- BET HER: 34,704,000 (28.0%)
- BIG TEN NETWORK: 49,666,000 (40.1%)
- BLACK ENTERTAINMENT TV: 71,190,000 (57.5%)
- BOOMERANG: 31,337,000 (25.3%)
- BRAVO: 74,231,000 (60.0%)
- CLEO TV: 43,288,000 (35.0%)
- CMT: 58,895,000 (47.6%)
- CNBC: 64,523,000 (52.1%)
- CNN: 72,830,000 (58.8%)
- CNN / HLN: 73,052,000 (59.0%)
- CNN EN ESPANOL: 15,918,000 (12.9%)
- COMEDY CENTRAL: 71,393,000 (57.7%)
- COMEDY.TV: 42,473,000 (34.3%)
- COOKING CHANNEL: 37,643,000 (30.4%)
- DESTINATION AMERICA: 26,005,000 (21.0%)
- DISCOVERY CHANNEL: 75,068,000 (60.6%)
- DISCOVERY EN ESPANOL: 4,102,000 (3.3%)
- DISCOVERY FAMILIA: 4,115,000 (3.3%)
- DISCOVERY FAMILY CHANNEL: 32,898,000 (26.6%)
- DISCOVERY LIFE CHANNEL: 27,913,000 (22.5%)
- DISNEY CHANNEL: 74,086,000 (59.8%)
- DISNEY JUNIOR: 54,455,000 (44.0%)
- DISNEY XD: 53,059,000 (42.9%)
- E! ENTERTAINMENT TV: 74,491,000 (60.2%)
- ESPN: 74,015,000 (59.8%)
- ESPN DEPORTES: 10,643,000 (8.6%)
- ESPN2: 73,991,000 (59.8%)
- ESPNU: 39,107,000 (31.6%)
- FETV: 48,321,000 (39.0%)
- FOOD NETWORK: 73,933,000 (59.7%)
- FOX BUSINESS NETWORK: 71,189,000 (57.5%)
- FOX DEPORTES: 13,244,000 (10.7%)
- FOX NEWS CHANNEL: 73,803,000 (59.6%)
- FOX SPORTS 1: 73,737,000 (59.6%)
- FOX SPORTS 2: 53,716,000 (43.4%)
- FREEFORM: 73,890,000 (59.7%)
- FX: 74,799,000 (60.4%)
- FX MOVIE CHANNEL: 45,035,000 (36.4%)
- FXX: 70,873,000 (57.2%)
- FYI: 38,842,000 (31.4%)
- GALANOVELAS: 2,558,000 (2.1%)
- GALAVISION: 43,450,000 (35.1%)
- GOLF CHANNEL: 62,522,000 (50.5%)
- GREAT AMERICAN FAMILY: 48,935,000 (39.5%)
- GSN: 59,349,000 (47.9%)
- HALLMARK CHANNEL: 73,182,000 (59.1%)
- HALLMARK DRAMA: 48,567,000 (39.2%)
- HALLMARK MOVIES & MYSTERIES: 66,840,000 (54.0%)
- HBO – THE WORKS: 16,440,000 (13.3%)
- HBO PRIME: 16,280,000 (13.2%)
- HEADLINE NEWS: 71,448,000 (57.7%)
- HISTORY: 68,009,000 (54.9%)
- HOME AND GARDEN TV: 76,885,000 (62.1%)
- IFC TV: 59,876,000 (48.4%)
- INSP: 56,993,000 (46.0%)
- INVESTIGATION DISCOVERY: 72,306,000 (58.4%)
- JUSTICE CENTRAL: 55,920,000 (45.2%)
- LIFETIME MOVIE NETWORK: 50,345,000 (40.7%)
- LIFETIME TELEVISION: 67,745,000 (54.7%)
- LOGO: 24,790,000 (20.0%)
- MAGNOLIA NETWORK: 41,290,000 (33.4%)
- MLB NETWORK: 42,033,000 (34.0%)
- MOTOR TREND: 67,373,000 (54.4%)
- MSNBC: 64,574,000 (52.2%)
- MTV: 71,010,000 (57.4%)
- MTV2: 52,524,000 (42.4%)
- NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC: 73,804,000 (59.6%)
- NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC WILD: 44,978,000 (36.3%)
- NBA-TV: 38,496,000 (31.1%)
- NEWSMAX TV: 50,653,000 (40.9%)
- NEWSNATION: 70,122,000 (56.6%)
- NFL NETWORK: 52,881,000 (42.7%)
- NICK JR: 56,198,000 (45.4%)
- NICK-AT-NITE: 73,902,000 (59.7%)
- NICKELODEON: 73,902,000 (59.7%)
- NICKTOONS: 45,535,000 (36.8%)
- OPRAH WINFREY NETWORK: 63,714,000 (51.5%)
- OUTDOOR CHANNEL: 19,289,000 (15.6%)
- OVATION NETWORK: 26,702,000 (21.6%)
- OXYGEN MEDIA: 63,712,000 (51.5%)
- PARAMOUNT: 64,764,000 (52.3%)
- POP: 62,257,000 (50.3%)
- RECIPETV: 39,186,000 (31.7%)
- REELZCHANNEL: 37,868,000 (30.6%)
- RFD-TV: 25,044,000 (20.2%)
- SCIENCE: 40,353,000 (32.6%)
- SHOWTIME: 15,697,000 (12.7%)
- SHOWTIME PRIME: 15,684,000 (12.7%)
- SMITHSONIAN: 41,038,000 (33.1%)
- SPORTSMAN CHANNEL: 14,424,000 (11.7%)
- STARZ: 11,692,000 (9.4%)
- STARZ PRIMARY: 11,578,000 (9.4%)
- SUNDANCE TV: 58,102,000 (46.9%)
- SYFY: 64,979,000 (52.5%)
- TBS: 73,168,000 (59.1%)
- TEENNICK: 46,665,000 (37.7%)
- THE CARTOON NETWORK: 70,061,000 (56.6%)
- THE COWBOY CHANNEL: 21,855,000 (17.7%)
- THE TENNIS CHANNEL: 41,054,000 (33.2%)
- THE WEATHER CHANNEL: 71,870,000 (58.1%)
- TLC: 75,430,000 (60.9%)
- TNT: 73,016,000 (59.0%)
- TRAVEL CHANNEL: 70,722,000 (57.1%)
- TRU TV: 71,700,000 (57.9%)
- TUDN: 24,675,000 (19.9%)
- TV LAND: 70,778,000 (57.2%)
- TV LAND CLASSIC: 70,778,000 (57.2%)
- TV ONE: 46,233,000 (37.3%)
- UNIVERSAL KIDS: 49,122,000 (39.7%)
- UNIVERSO: 27,638,000 (22.3%)
- UP: 43,562,000 (35.2%)
- USA NETWORK: 73,912,000 (59.7%)
- VH1: 71,187,000 (57.5%)
- VICE: 49,698,000 (40.1%)
- WE TV: 67,909,000 (54.9%)
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Brandon Thurston
brandon@wrestlenomics.com