It’s been a while since we’ve seen a syndicated cable network study from Beta Research. Last fall, Beta and sister company Erdos & Morgan were folded into a new company—Erdos Media Research. While Beta had conducted numerous studies each year focusing on basic cable networks, it has shifted to one syndicated EMR Basic Network Evaluation Study, measuring “must have” networks, perceived value, viewer satisfaction, favorite basic networks and other metrics. The new study has just been released, and this Cablefax-exclusive chart looks at the networks that received the most mentions by surveyed potential cord cutters when asked what their five favorite basic networks are.

Not surprisingly, ESPN tops the chart given that 73% of viewers surveyed by EMR also listed it as a must-have channel, followed by ESPN2 (68%) and Disney Channel (67%). Nat Geo, Weather Channel, Investigation Discovery and Cartoon Network all notched 66%. ESPN’s high ranking is particularly noteworthy given Disney’s plan to launch the flagship channel as a direct-to-consumer offering next fall. It also helps explain why Fubo has challenged the launch of sports streamer Venu, which plans to offer live and on-demand sports content from ESPN, Fox, TNT and other networks.

The EMR Multichannel Subscriber Study – Evaluation of Basic Cable Networks was conducted June 2024 online among a national sample of 1,500 cable and satellite dish subscribers age 18+. The study measured 42 basic cable networks.

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