Led by a giant Sunday featuring the VMAs, MTV moved past USA to top the week's adults 18-49 primetime cable ratings. USA, however, held on to the top spot for average viewership. Nickelodeon remained 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 August 22-28, 2011
| Network | (000s) |
| USA | 2,977 |
| MTV | 2,827 |
| DSNY | 2,372 |
| ESPN | 2,344 |
| TNT | 2,087 |
| FOXN | 2,007 |
| HIST | 1,731 |
| A&E | 1,508 |
| TWC | 1,383 |
| SYFY | 1,286 |
| FAM | 1,286 |
| HGTV | 1,267 |
| FX | 1,238 |
| ADSM | 1,233 |
| LIFE | 1,232 |
| NAN | 1,220 |
| TBSC | 1,202 |
| TRU | 1,185 |
| FOOD | 1,178 |
| CNN | 1,103 |
| AMC | 1,088 |
| DISC | 1,029 |
| NKJR | 991 |
| CMDY | 967 |
| TLC | 963 |
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Adults 18-49 Prime-time Average (Live+SD)
| Network | (000s) |
| MTV | 1,913 |
| USA | 1,121 |
| ESPN | 1,050 |
| HIST | 744 |
| TBSC | 716 |
| TNT | 711 |
| A&E | 710 |
| FX | 691 |
| TRU | 610 |
| FAM | 588 |
| FOOD | 587 |
| CMDY | 563 |
| ADSM | 559 |
| LIFE | 546 |
| DISC | 522 |
| SYFY | 521 |
| AMC | 487 |
| TLC | 473 |
| EN | 471 |
| TWC | 459 |
| BRAV | 455 |
| SPK | 451 |
| HGTV | 436 |
| VH1 | 422 |
| DSNY | 422 |
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Total Day Average Viewers (Live+SD)
| Network | (000s) |
| NICK | 2,137 |
| DSNY | 1,693 |
| USA | 1,378 |
| ADSM | 1,376 |
| NAN | 1,340 |
| FOXN | 1,315 |
| TNT | 1,112 |
| TOON | 1,089 |
| TWC | 1,077 |
| MTV | 1,063 |
| ESPN | 892 |
| CNN | 852 |
| HIST | 765 |
| A&E | 756 |
| FX | 740 |
| TRU | 701 |
| HGTV | 671 |
| FAM | 663 |
| TBSC | 662 |
| NKJR | 649 |
| FOOD | 641 |
| LIFE | 612 |
| AMC | 593 |
| DISC | 575 |
| TVLD | 557 |
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Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2011 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
