A Glimpse at What TV Shows People Are Watching, City by City

By , who has covered the television industry since 1992  and writes Buffering, a newsletter about streaming
L-R: Game of Thrones, Power, Entourage Photo: HBO, Starz

Game of Thrones may not be the biggest show on TV as measured by Nielsen — that honor goes to The Big Bang Theory — but HBO’s Sunday smash dominates another, increasingly important metric: video-on-demand (VOD) viewership. According to data from Comcast, which reaches more U.S. homes than any other cable or satellite provider, GOT is the most-watched entertainment series on its Xfinity on Demand platform both nationally and in each of the 16 major urban centers the NBCUniversal-owned company serves. And yet, impressive as GOT’s performance is, it’s not completely surprising, given its strong linear ratings and status as a massive pop-culture phenom. More revealing is what Comcast’s city-by-city data shows about viewing habits in different parts of the country.

As part of its annual Watchathon week (going on right now), Comcast compiled detailed information about how viewers nationally, and in its biggest markets, consumed programming via Xfinity between April 1, 2015, and the end of last month. While the company doesn’t reveal specific numbers for shows, it does rank them in order of popularity. But, unlike Nielsen, it also doesn’t distinguish between shows currently in production and those which signed off years ago: If it’s available to stream, it’s eligible to make the top ten. And this quirk greatly benefits HBO, whose on-demand platform allows subscribers to dive deep into the network’s library of original offerings, going all the way back to 1990s offerings such as Oz. Per the data Comcast made available exclusively to Vulture, three HBO catalogue titles — The Sopranos, The Wire, and, God help us all, Entourage — continue to be massively popular on VOD. In fact, Entourage was the fourth-most-watched show on Xfinity during the past year nationally, just below Empire and ahead of AMC’s The Walking Dead. If that seems beyond belief, remember: The Entourage movie, backed by millions of marketing dollars, was released last June.

America’s lingering love for Vinnie and Turtle isn’t the only viewing quirk revealed by the Xfinity data. Scroll down to see the top biggest VOD shows in 16 big cities across the country: 

Washington, D.C.

It’s somehow appropriate that HBO’s political farce Veep lands in the top ten here, and in none of Comcast’s other big markets. HBO’s The Wire and Entourage are both still huge hits in the nation’s capital, long after both left the air.

  1. Game of Thrones (HBO)
  2. Empire (Fox)
  3. Power (Starz)
  4. The Wire (HBO)
  5. Scandal (ABC)
  6. Homeland (Showtime)
  7. Modern Family (ABC)
  8. Black-ish (ABC)
  9. Veep (HBO)
  10. Entourage (HBO)

San Francisco

The hackers and tech geeks of Silicon Valley put USA’s Mr. Robot in the top ten, making it the only big city to embrace the series so warmly.

  1. Game of Thrones (HBO)
  2. The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
  3. Modern Family (ABC)
  4. Homeland (Showtime)
  5. Entourage (HBO)
  6. Empire (Fox)
  7. Keeping Up with the Kardashians (E!)
  8. True Detective (HBO)
  9. The Walking Dead (AMC)
  10. Mr. Robot (USA)

More than a decade after it faded to black, The Sopranos remains popular enough to land in the top ten of four big Eastern cities (Boston, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Hartford), as well as Detroit's. Comcast doesn’t have a big footprint in New York or New Jersey, or else The Sopranos would’ve likely been in the top ten there, too.

Boston

  1. Game of Thrones (HBO)
  2. Homeland (Showtime)
  3. The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
  4. Entourage (HBO)
  5. Ray Donovan (Showtime)
  6. Blue Bloods (CBS)
  7. Modern Family (ABC)
  8. Shameless (Showtime)
  9. The Sopranos (HBO)
  10. The Walking Dead (AMC)

Pittsburgh

  1. Game of Thrones (HBO)
  2. The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
  3. Entourage (HBO)
  4. Blue Bloods (CBS)
  5. The Sopranos (HBO)
  6. The Walking Dead (AMC)
  7. Modern Family (ABC)
  8. Shameless (Showtime)
  9. Empire (Fox)
  10. Chrisley Knows Best (USA)

Philadelphia

  1. Game of Thrones (HBO)
  2. The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
  3. Power (Starz)
  4. Empire (Fox)
  5. Entourage (HBO)
  6. Shameless (Showtime)
  7. Homeland (Showtime)
  8. Blue Bloods (CBS)
  9. The Sopranos (HBO)
  10. Ray Donovan (Showtime)

Hartford

  1. Game of Thrones (HBO)
  2. The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
  3. Entourage (HBO)
  4. Homeland (Showtime)
  5. Empire (Fox)
  6. Blue Bloods (CBS)
  7. Power (Starz)
  8. Modern Family (ABC)
  9. The Sopranos (HBO)
  10. Shameless (Showtime)

Detroit

  1. Game of Thrones (HBO)
  2. The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
  3. Entourage (HBO)
  4. Empire (Fox)
  5. Power (Starz)
  6. Modern Family (ABC)
  7. Blue Bloods (CBS)
  8. The Walking Dead (AMC)
  9. The Sopranos (HBO)
  10. Family Guy (Fox)

Salt Lake City

The Mormon-dominated metropolis apparently enjoys irreverent laughs, since The Simpsons and TruTV’s Impractical Jokers made the top ten here and nowhere else. (Last Man on Earth also does well here.)

  1. Game of Thrones (HBO)
  2. The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
  3. Modern Family (ABC)
  4. The Walking Dead (AMC)
  5. Keeping Up with Kardashians (E!)
  6. Blue Bloods (CBS)
  7. Entourage (HBO)
  8. The Simpsons (Fox/FXX)
  9. The Last Man on Earth (Fox)
  10. Impractical Jokers (TruTV)

Miami

ABC’s freshman drama Quantico makes its only top-ten appearance here. Guess they love their sexy FBI agents in Florida.

  1. Game of Thrones (HBO)
  2. Empire (Fox)
  3. Power (Starz)
  4. The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
  5. Entourage (HBO)
  6. Scandal (ABC)
  7. Homeland (Showtime)
  8. The Walking Dead (AMC)
  9. Quantico (ABC)
  10. Keeping Up with the Kardashians (E!)

Atlanta

Tyler Perry’s home base rewards its local legend by putting his OWN drama, The Haves and the Have Nots, in its top ten, the only city so enamored of the sudsy hour.

  1. Game of Thrones (HBO)
  2. Empire (Fox)
  3. Chrisley Knows Best (USA)
  4. The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
  5. Power (Starz)
  6. Bring It! (Lifetime)
  7. The Walking Dead (AMC)
  8. Blue Bloods (CBS)
  9. The Haves and the Have Nots (OWN)
  10. Love & Hip-Hop Atlanta (VH1)

Houston

They must really love Dwayne “The Rock†Johnson in Texas, since Houston is the only city to put his HBO comedy, Ballers, in its top ten. Houstonians also have a fondness for Entourage and Chrisley Knows Best. Make of this what you will.

  1. Game of Thrones (HBO)
  2. Empire (Fox)
  3. Power (Starz)
  4. The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
  5. Chrisley Knows Best (USA)
  6. The Walking Dead (AMC)
  7. Entourage (HBO)
  8. Bring It! (Lifetime)
  9. Ballers (HBO)
  10. Modern Family (ABC)

Browse more cities' data below:

Seattle

  1. Game of Thrones (HBO)
  2. The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
  3. Entourage (HBO)
  4. Modern Family (ABC)
  5. Blue Bloods (CBS)
  6. The Walking Dead (AMC)
  7. Keeping Up with Kardashians (E!)
  8. Homeland (Showtime)
  9. The Blacklist (NBC)
  10. NCIS (CBS)

Portland

  1. Game of Thrones (HBO)
  2. The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
  3. Entourage (HBO)
  4. Blue Bloods (CBS)
  5. Modern Family (ABC)
  6. The Walking Dead (AMC)
  7. Keeping Up with Kardashians (E!)
  8. Homeland (Showtime)
  9. True Detective (HBO)
  10. The Last Man on Earth (Fox)

Denver

  1. Game of Thrones (HBO)
  2. The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
  3. Entourage (HBO)
  4. Modern Family (ABC)
  5. Homeland (Showtime)
  6. The Walking Dead (AMC)
  7. Keeping Up with the Kardashians (E!)
  8. True Detective (HBO)
  9. Family Guy (Fox)
  10. Shameless (Showtime)

Chicago

  1. Game of Thrones (HBO)
  2. The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
  3. Empire (Fox)
  4. Entourage (HBO)
  5. Power (Starz)
  6. Modern Family (ABC)
  7. Shameless (Showtime)
  8. The Walking Dead (AMC)
  9. Family Guy (Fox)
  10. Keeping Up with the Kardashians (E!)

Minneapolis

  1. Game of Thrones (HBO)
  2. The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
  3. Entourage (HBO)
  4. Modern Family (ABC)
  5. Blue Bloods (CBS)
  6. Empire (Fox)
  7. The Walking Dead (AMC)
  8. Homeland (Showtime)
  9. Keeping Up with the Kardashians (E!)
  10. True Detective (HBO)

All Markets

  1. Game of Thrones (HBO)
  2. The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
  3. Empire (Fox)
  4. Entourage (HBO)
  5. Power (Starz)
  6. Blue Bloods (CBS)
  7. The Walking Dead (AMC)
  8. Modern Family (ABC)
  9. Homeland (Showtime)
  10. Keeping Up with the Kardashians (E!)

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The Most Popular Shows in the U.S., City by City