With baseball off cable until next year, the primetime cable ratings rankings returned to their Fall "normal" status with ESPN topping both primetime adults 18-49 ratings and average viewership. Expect that to continue at least through football season. TNT was second in adults 18-49 thanks to some nice early season NBA ratings.
USA finished second in primetime average viewership and third in adults 18-49, even though its biggest scripted originals are still off the air. Such is the power of WWE Raw and NCIS repeats.
SpongeBob congratulates the San Francisco Giants for their first World Series championship in 54 years, but he's never had a championship drought, he always keeps Nickelodeon at the top of the total day average viewership rankings.
For the week's top 25 individual cable programs click here.
Prime-time Average Viewers (Live+SD) Week of October 25-31, 2010
| Network | (000s) |
| ESPN | 4,159 |
| USA | 3,011 |
| DSNY | 2,320 |
| TNT | 2,295 |
| FOXN | 2,254 |
| HIST | 1,910 |
| AMC | 1,550 |
| NAN | 1,546 |
| TOON | 1,408 |
| TBSC | 1,354 |
| SYFY | 1,286 |
| A&E | 1,159 |
| HGTV | 1,137 |
| FX | 1,074 |
| FAM | 1,060 |
| DISC | 1,049 |
| ESP2 | 1,020 |
| TLC | 1,020 |
| CMDY | 1,010 |
| FOOD | 996 |
| TRU | 966 |
| LIFE | 929 |
| MTV | 899 |
| SPK | 883 |
| TVLD | 860 |
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Adults 18-49 Prime-time Average (Live+SD)
| Network | (000s) |
| ESPN | 2,136 |
| TNT | 1,144 |
| USA | 1,055 |
| HIST | 931 |
| AMC | 820 |
| TBSC | 755 |
| SYFY | 631 |
| FX | 618 |
| CMDY | 589 |
| MTV | 589 |
| A&E | 588 |
| DISC | 580 |
| BRAV | 530 |
| DSNY | 514 |
| FAM | 509 |
| TLC | 506 |
| SPK | 472 |
| FOOD | 464 |
| LIFE | 436 |
| TRU | 436 |
| NAN | 418 |
| EN | 404 |
| ESP2 | 392 |
| HGTV | 376 |
| FOXN | 368 |
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Total Day Average Viewers (Live+SD)
| Network | (000s) |
| NICK | 2,169 |
| DSNY | 1,638 |
| ESPN | 1,613 |
| NAN | 1,524 |
| USA | 1,504 |
| TNT | 1,321 |
| FOXN | 1,268 |
| ADSM | 1,180 |
| TOON | 983 |
| HIST | 908 |
| AMC | 841 |
| TBSC | 804 |
| A&E | 668 |
| HGTV | 662 |
| TRU | 652 |
| FX | 650 |
| FOOD | 647 |
| FAM | 625 |
| TVLD | 616 |
| DISC | 609 |
| CMDY | 593 |
| SYFY | 543 |
| NKJR | 517 |
| LIFE | 517 |
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Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2010 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
Cable Channel Abbreviations: NICK = Nickelodeon, NAN = Nick At Nite, TOON = Cartoon Network, ADSM = Adult Swim, TRU = truTV, LIFE = Lifetime, NKJR - Nick Jr., FAM = ABC Family, TVLD = TV Land, FOXN = Fox News, TBSC = TBS, DISC = Discovery
