Ratings Watch: ‘Descendants 2,’ ‘Phelps vs. Shark’ Made Waves Last Week

Controversy be damned, Discovery’s “Phelps vs. Shark: Great Gold vs. Great White” took a bite out of the competition.

The special because Discovery’s highest-rated Shark Week telecast ever across adults 25-54, women 25-54, and women 18-49, and was last Sunday’s No. 1 basic cable show in primetime in the key adults 18-49 demo. Discovery’s “Shark-Croc Showdown” also made it into the week’s top 25 telecasts among adults 18-49.

Disney Channel also had reason to crow last week, as the premiere of “Descendants 2” on July 21 averaged 8.6 million viewers on Disney Channel alone after three days worth of DVR usage. The telecast was simulcast on ABC, Disney Channel, Disney XD, Freeform, Lifetime and Lifetime Movies, and Disney said it ultimately reached 21 million total viewers via various platforms.

Disney also reports that “Descendants 2” was the No. 1 cable TV telecast among all major youth demographics since the original “Descendants” premiered in 2015.

Overall, “America’s Got Talent” once again led the total viewers race, while “Game of Thrones,” as usual, dominated adults 18-49 for the week ending July 23. Other big premieres of the week: HBO’s “Ballers” opened with a strong 1.6 rating, while MTV’s “Teen Mom II” Season 8 was back with a 1.5.

Here are this week’s rankers:

Total viewers ranker, week ending July 23, 2017:

RANK	SHOW & NETWORK	LIVE+3 DAYS DVR/VOD	WATCHED LIVE/ SAME DAY
1	America’s Got Talent NBC	14.95	12.57
2	Game of Thrones HBO	11.66	9.28
3	World of Dance NBC	8.61	6.91
4	Descendants 2 Disney Channel	8.58	5.33
5	60 Minutes CBS	7.56	7.36
6	The Bachelorette ABC	7.47	6.22
7	Big Brother (Wednesday) CBS	7.41	6.19
8	Big Brother (Thursday) CBS	7.39	5.96
9	Big Brother (Sunday) CBS	7.25	5.99
10	Big Brother (Friday) CBS	6.94	5.45
11	The Big Bang Theory CBS	6.78	6.49
12	NCIS CBS	6.72	6.49
13	Celebrity Family Feud ABC	6.56	6.02
14	American Ninja Warrior NBC	6.51	5.78
15	Little Big Shots: Forever Young NBC	6.24	5.82
16	Bull CBS	5.63	5.36
17	Night Shift NBC	5.57	4.23
18	The Wall NBC	5.48	4.95
19	Salvation CBS	5.43	4.28
20	Dateline Friday NBC	5.29	4.62
21	Phelps vs. Shark Discovery	5.20	4.78
22	$100,000 Pyramid ABC	4.74	4.28
23	Life in Pieces CBS	4.55	4.46
24	Criminal Minds CBS	4.46	4.14
25	Steve Harvey’s Funderdome ABC Masterchef Fox	4.45 4.45	4.26 3.45

Total viewers; in millions

Adults 18-49 ranker, week ending July 23, 2017:

RANK	SHOW & NETWORK	LIVE+3 DAYS DVR/VOD RATING	WATCHED LIVE/ SAME DAY RATING
1	Game of Thrones HBO	5.4	4.3
2	America’s Got Talent (Tuesday) NBC	3.1	2.5
3	Big Brother (Thursday) CBS	2.5	1.9
4	Big Brother (Wednesday) CBS	2.4	1.9
5	Big Brother (Sunday) CBS	2.3	1.8
6	The Bachelorette ABC Big Brother (Friday) CBS World Of Dance NBC	2.1 2.1 2.1	1.6 1.5 1.6
9	Phelps vs. Shark Discovery	2.0	1.9
10	Descendents 2 Disney Channel	1.9	1.2
11	Love & Hip Hop Atlanta 6 VH1	1.8	1.4
12	American Ninja Warrior NBC	1.7	1.5
13	Ballers HBO	1.6	1.2
14	Teen Mom II Season 8 HBO	1.5	0.8
15	Masterchef Fox Copa Oro 2017 22 Univision	1.4 1.4	1.1 1.4
17	Shark-Croc Showdown Discovery Copa Oro 2017 24 Univision Basketball Wives 6 VH1	1.3 1.3 1.3	1.3 1.3 1.1
20	Celebrity Family Feud ABC Real Housewives of OC Bravo The Big Bang Theory CBS The Wall NBC Spartan: Team Challenge NBC WWE Raw (8 p.m.) USA WWE Raw (9 p.m.) USA WWE Raw (10 p.m.) USA	1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2	1.1 0.6 1.1 1.1 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.0