CableTV Ratings: ESPN Tops In 2014

ESPN was last year’s top dog in cable ratings, sweeping the key demo categories while also winning in total viewers — leap-frogging the likes of USA and Disney Channel, which traditionally battle for the top spot but slumped in 2014.

According to Variety, the sports network, whose telecast of the college football championship game last January was the year’s most-watched cable telecast (25.75 million viewers), edged ahead of TBS in adults 18-49 and 25-54 and bested Adult Swim in the 18-34 demo, according to Nielsen estimates. ESPN was one of seven top-40 networks to deliver year-over-year primetime gains in adults 18-49.

Other top-40 nets on the rise vs. 2013 in the demo were VH1 (up 6%), ID (up 9%), FXX (up 73%), WE tv (up 13%), Hallmark (up 8%) and OWN (up 7%). The Oprah Winfrey network, with a full year of scripted hit “The Haves and the Have Nots,” grew by double-digits for a third straight year — the only top-40 network to do so.