• by Wayne Friedman , August 18, 2016

The big four broadcast networks continue to dominate the industry’s traditional Nielsen reach measures --- even as some erosion has occurred.

In July, broadcast networks had between 76% and 82% reach in the U.S. -- reach defined here as homes watching each network for at least one minute in the month, according to Pivotal Research Group.

NBC is at the top of the range at 81.7%, followed by CBS at 80%; ABC with 79.4%; Fox at 75.5%; and CW, 61.1%. CBS lost the least among the major TV networks.

Cable TV networks with the best reach continue to be major brands such as TBS, TNT, FX, USA and AMC, all posting around 50% reach during the month, and all declining to some extent -- TNT, 51.4%; TBS, 49.1%; AMC, 48.5%; USA, 48.1%; and FX, 47.9%.

Brian Wieser, senior research analyst for Pivotal, writes that the big four broadcast networks continue to have low “concentration” levels — the percentage of viewing accounted for by the top quintile of viewers.

He says: ”Both the reach and concentration metrics are illustrative of the relative efficiency of broadcast networks to advertisers, as advertising packages bought from these networks contain less unintended duplication.”

Cable news networks all gained reach during the month: CNN, 45.9%; Fox, 39.1%; and MSNBC, 38.5% --  due to the strong interest in the big political election season.

Other cable TV network are ranked as follows: Discovery, 44.2%; HGTV, 42.4%; Comedy Central, 42.3%; Spike, 42.2%; TLC, 41.5%; ESPN, 40.9%; Syfy, 40.8%; Food Network, 39.9%; Disney, 37.8%; MTV, 37.4%.

Significant reach losers in July included NBCU’s E!, Viacom’s TV Land, NBCU’s Bravo and Discovery’s Animal Planet.