FX and AMC among huge loss leaders for cable television in 2018

The rise of streaming services has hurt cable television and a number of premium channels have suffered in the ratings as a result, with FX and AMC leading the way.

Deadline reported that a number of popular cable networks have fallen in 2018 and even hugely popular shows like The Walking Dead and American Horror Story could save them.

It seems that all cable television took a beating thanks to streaming options like Netflix and Hulu as well as the willingness of fans to wait to watch their favorite shows at their own convenience.

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USA Network led the way for all non-news/non-sports cable networks with an average of 1.48 million viewers, although that was actually a drop of nine-percent from 2017.

Of course, with the current political landscape almost more ludicrous than the best horror television show, it is no surprise that Fox News trumped USA Network, with 2.5 million average viewers.

However, the bad news is that two of the top premium television networks took hard hits in 2018.

AMC finished in 12th place for the non-news/non-sports cable networks with an average of .88 million viewers, a 15-percent drop from 2017. FX sits right behind it at .86 million viewers, a 14-percent drop from 2017.

Networks like HBO and Showtime are not included as they are not supported by advertising.

FX has to be disappointed.

2018 saw the premiere of the Sons of Anarchy spin-off series Mayans M.C. and the joining of characters from all the seasons of American Horror Story into one giant new story.

With Fargo, Legion, Atlanta and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, FX had to hope for more. With that said, shows like Fargo and Legion are tailor-made for binging, which is not seen in the basic Neilsen ratings.

As for AMC, the drop was easy to see.

With The Walking Dead dropping viewers at a high rate this year, the drop in average network viewers was expected.

It also doesn’t help that its biggest shows outside of The Walking Dead are genre and cult favorites like Preacher, Better Call Saul and Humans.

If anything, at least AMC and FX can take solace in the fact that they were nowhere near the worst cable networks in 2018. Nick Jr. dropped 27-percent in total viewers and Freeform fell 17-percent.