All 126 Cable Channels Ranked by 2022 Viewership: CNN No Longer in Top 5

All 126 Cable Channels Ranked by 2022 Viewership: CNN No Longer in Top 5,We've ranked all 126 cable channels by their 2022 viewers: Fox News wins again, CNN has a mighty fall, and the G4 return brings up the rear.

All 126 Cable Channels Ranked by 2022 Viewership: CNN No Longer in Top 5

Fox News Channel closed out its seventh straight year as the most-watched cable-TV channel in primetime. (It was also No. 1 in total-day viewers, if you were wondering.) Also once again, ESPN was second, MSNBC third, and HGTV fourth. Fifth place is where things got shaken up — and probably where things got uncomfortable inside of the Warner Bros. Discovery offices.

For the first time since 2019, CNN dropped out of the Top 5, according to Nielsen data, falling all the way to No. 10. On the bright side, fellow Turner channel TNT finished fifth instead. Nos. 6-10, in order, were: Hallmark Channel, TBS, TLC, INSP (fka The Inspiration Network), and CNN.

TNT, TBS, and CNN started 2022 as part of AT&T’s WarnerMedia. In April, WarnerMedia and TLC parent Discovery, Inc. merged and formed Warner Bros. Discovery. For David Zaslav’s portfolio of cable channels, the below ranker presents a real good news-bad news situation — but that pretty much sums up the entirety of his 2022.

We should point out here that the Nielsen ranker we’ve used for this story is not inclusive of delayed (mostly DVR) viewing. That disproportionally rewards live news (Fox News, MSNBC, CNN) and sports (ESPN).

This year’s last-place cable channel was G4, which was revived in November 2021 and didn’t make it 12 months. The brief G4 2.0 run averaged just 1,000 overall viewers in primetime. Last year’s last-place channel, beIN Sports, remained in 124th place (G4 and GalaNovelas — fka TLNovelas — were the new pair measured this year, bringing the grand total to 126) with another 3,000 viewers per evening — just like ’21.

Pursuit Channel dropped from 117th place (of 124) with 8,000 total viewers last year to 125th place (of 126) with just 2,000 viewers this year. With that trajectory, Pursuit Channel is very much in pursuit of dead-last place in 2023.

See all 126 channels ranked by total 2022 Monday-Sunday primetime (8-11 p.m.) viewers below. The final column is the viewership averages, in thousands. (Add a comma and three zeroes to the end of each; for example, Fox News averaged 2.33 million viewers, History Channel averaged 694,000, Fuse averaged 8,000, and so on.)

1	FOX NEWS CHANNEL	2,330
2	ESPN	1,915
3	MSNBC	1,208
4	HOME AND GARDEN TV	945
5	TURNER NETWORK TELEVISION	941
6	HALLMARK CHANNEL	907
7	TBS NETWORK	849
8	TLC	791
9	INSP	758
10	CNN	730
11	HISTORY	694
12	DISCOVERY CHANNEL	672
13	FOOD NETWORK	670
14	USA NETWORK	655
15	TV LAND	522
16	INVESTIGATION DISCOVERY	505
17	LIFETIME TELEVISION	495
18	A&E NETWORK	451
19	HALLMARK MOVIES & MYSTERIES	432
20	PARAMOUNT	429
21	BRAVO	416
22	FX	415
23	AMC	405
24	WETV	383
25	GSN	358
26	ESPN2	334
27	SYFY	329
28	NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC	324
29	BLACK ENTERTAINMENT TV	322
30	OXYGEN MEDIA	296
31	TRAVEL CHANNEL	291
32	NICK-AT-NITE	281
33	FREEFORM	273
34	ANIMAL PLANET	267
35	FOX SPORTS 1	264
36	COMEDY CENTRAL	256
37	FXX	243
38	ADULT SWIM	241
39	SUNDANCE TV	234
40	MTV	232
41	FETV	228
42	LIFETIME MOVIE NETWORK	226
43	REELZ	223
44	IFC TV	220
45	E!	217
46	CMT	208
47	HLN	204
48	VH1	201
49	HBO PRIME	194
50	MOTOR TREND	192
51	CNBC	191
52	MAGNOLIA NETWORK	186
52	OPRAH WINFREY NETWORK	186
54	BBC-AMERICA	182
55	DISNEY JUNIOR	181
56	NEWSMAX TV	180
57	NFL NETWORK	170
57	SCIENCE	170
59	DISNEY CHANNEL	169
60	NICK JR	166
61	NAT GEO WILD	163
62	THE WEATHER CHANNEL	154
63	TRUTV	146
64	TUDN	134
65	POP	123
66	UP	99
67	MLB NETWORK	96
68	COOKING CHANNEL	95
68	TV ONE	95
70	SMITHSONIAN	91
71	GOLF CHANNEL	89
71	NBA-TV	89
73	HALLMARK DRAMA	84
74	FYI	83
75	GALAVISION	81
76	FX MOVIE CHANNEL	78
77	BIG TEN NETWORK	74
78	VICE	67
79	GREAT AMERICAN FAMILY	66
79	SHOWTIME PRIME	66
79	STARZ PRIMARY	66
82	NICKTOONS	64
83	DISCOVERY EN ESPANOL	62
84	FOX BUSINESS NETWORK	60
85	NEWSNATION	58
86	UNIVERSO	57
87	AMERICAN HEROES CHANNEL	54
88	MTV2	53
89	BOOMERANG	52
89	STARZ ENCORE PRIMARY	52
91	DESTINATION AMERICA	51
91	DISNEY XD	51
93	OVATION	50
94	TENNIS CHANNEL	49
95	ESPNU	48
95	RFD-TV	48
97	FOX DEPORTES	42
97	TEENNICK	42
99	LOGO	40
100	AXS TV	38
100	BET HER	38
102	DISCOVERY FAMILY CHANNEL	36
103	OUTDOOR CHANNEL	28
104	DISCOVERY LIFE CHANNEL	27
104	ESPN DEPORTES	27
106	MAXPRIME	26
107	THE COWBOY CHANNEL	23
108	UNIVERSAL KIDS	22
109	DISCOVERY FAMILIA	20
110	OLYMPIC CHANNEL	19
111	BABY FIRST TV	18
111	FOX SPORTS 2	18
113	NBC SPORTS NETWORK	16
114	CNN EN ESPANOL	15
114	GALANOVELAS	15
116	CLEO TV	12
117	JUSTICE CENTRAL	11
118	ACCUWEATHER	9
118	SPORTSMAN CHANNEL	9
120	FUSE	8
121	BEIN SPORT ESPANOL	4
121	BLACK NEWS CHANNEL	4
121	COMEDY.TV	4
124	BEIN SPORT	3
125	PURSUIT CHANNEL	2
126	G4	1