From a magical play at the end of Super Bowl XLIX that sealed the fate of the Seattle Seahawks—and potentially cemented Tom Brady’s place in the Parthenon of sports gods—to a show about a mogul of a hip-hop empire to a telenovela about a wealthy businessman with a big decision to make, U.S. consumers had plenty of compelling content to watch and Tweet about in 2015!
Sports—particularly football—dominated viewers’ TVs in 2015. In fact, eight out of 10 of 2015’s top 10 telecasts—as well as several of the top regularly scheduled programs—were related to gridiron goings on!
Sports aside, today’s consumers continue to dictate their own programming schedule by time-shifting content when they want it. And scripted programming—dramas specifically—continue to be audiences’ fare of choice in this regard. Almost all of the top time-shifted shows—whether ranked by the percentage increase or the absolute difference between the live and seven-day viewership—were scripted dramas.
But watching is just one part of the equation these days.
Over the past year, millions of TV fans across the U.S have come together on Twitter each week to discuss TV’s biggest moments as they happen live without leaving the comfort of their own couches. Nielsen ranked the top series, specials and sports events on Twitter this year, along with the most-Tweeted-about minute in each category.
For the third year in a row, an AMC program topped the list of top series on Twitter. On average, 4 million people saw at least one Tweet about new episodes of The Walking Dead. And the undead certainly brought Twitter to life: people sent an average of 424,000 Tweets about each episode.
Award shows—and Kanye West specifically—were also in the spotlight on Twitter this year. In fact, 248,000 Tweets were sent at 10:49 p.m ET about the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards in the minutefollowing West’s announcement that he would be running for President of the United States in 2020. This moment was the most-tweeted TV minute of 2015…but we’ll have to wait a half-decade to see if the hip-hop impresario makes good on the campaign run.
Top TV Programs of 2015 – Single Telecast
| Rank | Telecast | Originator | Date Aired | Persons 2+ Rating | Average No. of Viewers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SUPER BOWL GAME XLIX | NBC | 02/01/2015 | 38.9 | 115,204,000 |
| 2 | SUPER BOWL POST | NBC | 02/01/2015 | 24.7 | 73,156,000 |
| 3 | AFC CHAMPIONSHIP ON CBS | CBS | 01/18/2015 | 14.3 | 42,273,000 |
| 4 | OSCARS, THE | ABC | 02/22/2015 | 13.0 | 38,618,000 |
| 5 | CFP CHAMPIONSHIP L | ESPN | 01/12/2015 | 11.4 | 33,671,000 |
| 6 | FOX NFC WILDCARD POST GUN | FOX | 01/04/2015 | 11.2 | 33,064,000 |
| 7 | FOX NFC PLAYOFF-SAT | FOX | 01/10/2015 | 10.5 | 31,139,000 |
| 8 | BLACKLIST | NBC | 02/01/2015 | 10.3 | 30,489,000 |
| 9 | AFC DIV-PLF-POST-GAME-SU | CBS | 01/11/2015 | 9.7 | 28,581,000 |
| 10 | CFP SEMIFINAL L | ESPN | 01/01/2015 | 9.6 | 28,468,000 |
| Source: Nielsen NNTV Program Report Data from 1/1/2015 – 11/08/2015. English- and Spanish-language telecasts on Broadcast and Cable. Broadcast Prime. Persons 2+. Live+7. Excludes breakouts, sustainers and programs less than 5 minutes in duration. Sample minimums applied. Read as: The Oscars on ABC averaged 38.6 million viewers who watched live or via time-shifted viewing within seven days. |
Top 10 Primetime TV Programs of 2015 – Regularly Scheduled
| Rank | Program | Originator | Persons 2+ Rating | Average No. of Viewers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL | NBC | 7.8 | 23,292,000 |
| 2 | BIG BANG THEORY, THE | CBS | 7.1 | 21,065,000 |
| 3 | NCIS | CBS | 7.1 | 20,913,000 |
| 4 | WALKING DEAD | AMC | 6.6 | 19,669,000 |
| 5 | EMPIRE | FOX | 6.0 | 17,747,000 |
| 6 | CBS+NFLN THU NT FOOTBALL | CBS | 6.0 | 17,665,000 |
| 7 | NCIS: NEW ORLEANS | CBS | 5.8 | 17,316,000 |
| 8 | SUNDAY NIGHT NFL PRE-KICK | NBC | 5.8 | 17,084,000 |
| 9 | BLUE BLOODS | CBS | 5.1 | 14,974,000 |
| 10 | DANCING WITH THE STARS | ABC | 4.9 | 14,555,000 |
| Source: Nielsen NNTV Program Report Data from 1/1/2015 – 11/08/2015. Regularly scheduled English- and Spanish-language programs on Broadcast and Cable. Broadcast Prime. Persons 2+. Live+7. Excludes breakouts, specials, sustainers, repeats, programs less than 5 minutes in duration and programs with less than four telecasts. Sample minimums applied. Read as: NBC Sunday Night Football averaged 23.3 million viewers who watched live or via time-shifted viewing within seven days. |
Top Spanish-Language Programs – Regularly Scheduled
| Rank | Program | Originator | Persons 2+ Rating | Average No. of Viewers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MI CORAZON ES TUYO TUE | UNI | 7.5 | 3730 |
| 2 | MI CORAZON ES TUYO WED | UNI | 7.3 | 3656 |
| 3 | MI CORAZON ES TUYO MON | UNI | 7.2 | 3612 |
| 4 | MI CORAZON ES TUYO THU | UNI | 7.2 | 3602 |
| 5 | MI CORAZON ES TUYO FRI | UNI | 7.1 | 3542 |
| 6 | HASTA FIN DEL MUNDO MON | UNI | 6.6 | 3312 |
| 7 | HASTA FIN DEL MUNDO TUE | UNI | 6.6 | 3287 |
| 8 | HASTA FIN DEL MUNDO THU | UNI | 6.6 | 3286 |
| 9 | HASTA FIN DEL MUNDO WED | UNI | 6.5 | 3253 |
| 10 | HASTA FIN DEL MUNDO FRI | UNI | 6.4 | 3191 |
| Source: Nielsen NNTV Program Report Dates: 1/1/2015 – 11/08/2015. Spanish-Language Networks. Broadcast Prime Span. Live & Live+7, Ranked on Live+7 AA U.S. Proj (000). Excludes breakouts, specials, sustainers, repeats, programs less than 5 minutes in duration and programs with less than four telecasts. Sample minimums applied. Read As: Mi Corazon Es Tuya Tue on Univision averaged 3.7 million viewers tuning in Live or via time-shifted viewing within seven days. |
Top 10 Time-shifted TV Programs of 2015 (Ranked by % Change in Viewers)
| Rank | Program | Originator | % Increase in Viewers from Time-shifted Viewing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FARGO | FX | 240.3% |
| 2 | TRUE DETECTIVE | HBO PRIME | 220.7% |
| 3 | BETTER CALL SAUL | AMC | 215.2% |
| 4 | BATES MOTEL | A&E NETWORK | 201.8% |
| 5 | GAME OF THRONES | HBO PRIME | 195.9% |
| 6 | JUSTIFIED | FX | 185.6% |
| 7 | ROYAL PAINS | USA NETWORK | 181.1% |
| 8 | TEEN MOM II SSN6 | MTV | 180.3% |
| 9 | SUITS | USA NETWORK | 177.3% |
| 10 | TEEN MOM SSN 5 | MTV | 165.7% |
| Source: Nielsen NNTV Program Report Data from 1/1/2015 – 11/08/2015. Cable & Broadcast. Broadcast Prime; Primetime TSV%: Percent increase in rating is based on absolute difference between Live Persons 2+ and Live+7 Projections. A program must reach at least a 1.0 Live+7 P2+ rating and have at least four telecasts. Excludes breakouts, sustainers, specials, repeats, and programs less than 5 minutes in duration. Sample minimums applied. Read as: The TV viewing audience to Fargo on FX increased 240% from the live audience with time-shifted viewing (within seven days). |
Top 10 Time-shifted TV Programs of 2015 (Ranked by Absolute Difference)
| Rank | Program | Originator | Absolute Difference in Viewership |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WALKING DEAD | AMC | 10,894,000 |
| 2 | BIG BANG THEORY, THE | CBS | 9,396,000 |
| 3 | EMPIRE | FOX | 7,663,000 |
| 4 | BLACKLIST | NBC | 7,327,000 |
| 5 | BLINDSPOT | NBC | 7,125,000 |
| 6 | MODERN FAMILY | ABC | 7,052,000 |
| 7 | FEAR THE WALKING DEAD | AMC | 6,945,000 |
| 8 | NCIS | CBS | 6,916,000 |
| 9 | GAME OF THRONES | HBO PRIME | 6,299,000 |
| 10 | SCANDAL | ABC | 5,994,000 |
| Source: Nielsen NNTV Program Report Data from 1/1/2015 – 11/8/2015. Broadcast & Cable. Broadcast Prime. Absolute difference between Live Person 2+ and Live+7 Projections. A program must reach at least a 1.0 live+7 P2+ rating and have at least 4 telecasts. Excludes breakouts, repeats, sustainers, specials, and programs less than 5 minutes in duration. Sample minimums applied. Read as: The TV viewing audience of The Blacklist on NBC increased by about 7.3 million viewers from the live audience with time-shifted viewing (within seven days). |
2015 Top 10 Series on Twitter
| Rank | Network | Program | Avg. Unique Audience (000) | Avg. Impressions (000) | Avg. Unique Authors (000) | Avg. Tweets (000) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AMC | The Walking Dead | 3,978 | 28,033 | 153 | 424 |
| 2 | ABC | The Bachelor | 3,593 | 31,909 | 72 | 156 |
| 3 | HBO*, HBO Latino | Game of Thrones | 3,171 | 16,609 | 74 | 152 |
| 4 | ABC | The Bachelorette | 2,587 | 24,518 | 49 | 114 |
| 5 | FOX | Empire | 2,525 | 27,379 | 137 | 559 |
| 6 | FX | American Horror Story: Hotel | 2,336 | 11,949 | 87 | 239 |
| 7 | ABC Family | Pretty Little Liars | 2,272 | 12,805 | 86 | 285 |
| 8 | ABC | Scandal | 2,154 | 13,495 | 59 | 222 |
| 9 | NBC | Parks and Recreation | 2,105 | 6,766 | 43 | 89 |
| 10 | ABC | Grey’s Anatomy | 1,986 | 7,158 | 54 | 120 |
| Read as: On average, 4.0 million people saw one or more of the 424,000 Tweets sent about each new episode of “The Walking Dead” on AMC. Tweets about each new episode were sent by an average of 153,000 unique authors and seen 28.0 million times. Source: Nielsen. Data from 1/1/2015 – 11/30/2015. Nielsen Social measures Tweets in the U.S. from three hours before through three hours after airing, local time. Twitter TV Audience is measured from when the Tweets are sent until the end of the broadcast day at 5 a.m. Includes new/live prime time and late fringe airings on English- and Spanish-language Broadcast and National Cable Networks and excludes programs with less than five telecasts. For episodes that are simulcast on multiple networks, networks are listed alphabetically and metrics reflect the highest Unique Audience across all airing networks, denoted with an asterisk. |
The most-Tweeted series minute of 2015: The Voice (NBC), which garnered 182,000 Tweets at 8:57 p.m. ET on April 28.
2015 Top 10 Specials on Twitter
| Rank | Network | Program | Date | Total Unique Audience (000) | Total Impressions (000) | Total Unique Authors (000) | Total Tweets (000) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CBS | The 57th Annual Grammy Awards | 02/08/15 | 13,317 | 1,045,771 | 2,393 | 13,432 |
| 2 | ABC | The Oscars | 02/22/15 | 13,019 | 801,272 | 1,438 | 5,923 |
| 3 | MTV | 2015 MTV Video Music Awards | 08/30/15 | 11,823 | 676,317 | 2,236 | 21,356 |
| 4 | NBC | The 72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards | 01/11/15 | 10,436 | 332,410 | 556 | 1,885 |
| 5 | ABC | 2015 American Music Awards | 11/22/15 | 10,158 | 229,108 | 935 | 5,331 |
| 6 | ABC | 2015 Billboard Music Awards | 05/17/15 | 9,805 | 174,229 | 787 | 3,321 |
| 7 | TV Event | State of the Union 2015 | 01/20/15 | 9,726 | 295,051 | 681 | 2,598 |
| 8 | Fox News Channel | Republican Presidential Candidates Debate | 08/06/15 | 9,278 | 393,185 | 674 | 3,293 |
| 9 | CNN | CNN Republican Debate | 09/16/15 | 9,008 | 314,085 | 563 | 2,459 |
| 10 | BET | BET Awards 2015 | 06/28/15 | 9,004 | 369,186 | 927 | 7,381 |
| Read as: 13.3 million people saw one or more of the 13.4 million Tweets sent about “The 57th Annual Grammy Awards” on CBS on Sunday, 2/8/15. Tweets about the awards show were sent by 2.4 million unique authors and seen a total of 1.0 billion times. Source: Nielsen. Data from 1/1/2015 – 11/30/2015. Nielsen Social measures Tweets in the U.S. from three hours before through three hours after airing, local time. Twitter TV Audience is measured from when the Tweets are sent until the end of the broadcast day at 5 a.m. Includes new/live airings on Broadcast and National Cable Networks only. |
The most-Tweeted minute in a special in 2015: 2015 MTV Video Music Awards (MTV), which garnered 248,000 Tweets at 10:49 p.m. ET on Aug. 30.
2015 Top 10 Sports Events on Twitter
| Rank | Network | Program | Event | Date | Total Unique Audience (000) | Total Impressions (000) | Total Unique Authors (000) | Total Tweets (000) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NBC*, NBC Universo | Super Bowl XLIX | New England Patriots vs. Seattle Seahawks | 2/1/2015 | 16,132 | 2,050,162 | 5,124 | 25,068 |
| 2 | Pay-Per-View | Boxing | Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao | 5/2/2015 | 11,624 | 491,602 | 1,825 | 5,858 |
| 3 | FOX*, FOX Deportes | NFL Football | NFC Championship: Green Bay Packers at Seattle Seahawks | 1/18/2015 | 11,501 | 358,740 | 1,088 | 3,332 |
| 4 | FOX, Telemundo* | 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup | United States vs. Japan | 7/5/2015 | 11,173 | 322,814 | 1,114 | 3,453 |
| 5 | FOX*, FOX Deportes | NFL Football | NFC Divisional Playoff: Dallas Cowboys at Green Bay Packers | 1/11/2015 | 11,172 | 299,935 | 949 | 3,007 |
| 6 | ESPN*, ESPN Deportes | 2015 National Championship | Ohio State vs. Oregon | 1/12/2015 | 11,040 | 399,450 | 1,199 | 3,937 |
| 7 | ABC*, ESPN Deportes | 2015 NBA Finals | Golden State Warriors at Cleveland Cavaliers | 6/16/2015 | 10,167 | 360,827 | 1,291 | 5,054 |
| 8 | ESPN*, ESPN Deportes | Rose Bowl | Florida State vs. Oregon | 1/1/2015 | 10,126 | 275,413 | 799 | 2,564 |
| 9 | CBS | NFL Football | AFC Championship: Indianapolis Colts at New England Patriots | 1/18/2015 | 10,061 | 193,454 | 667 | 1,848 |
| 10 | CBS | 2015 NCAA Basketball Tournament | Duke vs. Wisconsin | 4/6/2015 | 9,822 | 276,860 | 891 | 2,666 |
| Read as: 16.1 million people saw one or more of the 25.1 million Tweets sent about “Super Bowl XLIX”, which aired on NBC and NBC Universo on Sunday, 2/1/15. Tweets about the event were sent by 5.1 million Unique Authors and seen a total of 2.1 billion times. Source: Nielsen. Data from 1/1/2015 – 11/30/2015. Nielsen Social measures Tweets in the U.S. from three hours before through three hours after airing, local time. Twitter TV Audience is measured from when the Tweets are sent until the end of the broadcast day at 5am. Includes new/live airings on Broadcast and National Cable Networks only. For multicast events, networks are listed alphabetically and metrics reflect the highest Unique Audience across all airing networks, denoted with an asterisk. |
METHODOLOGY
Source: Nielsen. Data from Jan. 1, 2015-Nov. 30, 2015. Nielsen Social captures relevant Tweets in the U.S. from three hours before through three hours after broadcast, local time. Unique Audience measures the audience of relevant Tweets ascribed to a program from when the Tweets are sent until the end of the broadcast day at 5 a.m. Sports events, Series and Specials include those on English- and Spanish-language broadcast and national cable networks only. Sports events and Specials are across all day parts and are ranked by unique audience for each individual telecast. Series include new/live prime time and late fringe programming only and are ranked by average unique audience across new/live episodes during the time period and exclude programs with less than five telecasts. For multicast programs, networks are listed alphabetically and metrics reflect the highest unique audience across all airing networks, denoted with an asterisk.
