Fox News beat the full-court press of TBS and TNT’s coverage of the March Madness college basketball tournament to top cable’s primetime chart for the 10th straight week. Fox News averaged 1.9 million viewers in primetime for the week of March 18-24, topping second place TBS’ 1.7 million viewers and TNT’s 1.4 million viewers, according to Nielsen numbers supplied by Fox News.
The weekly show fronted by Gayle King and Charles Barkley was one of the last greenlights of the Chris Licht era at the news channel.
Exclusives
NewsNation said it delivered its highest-rated week ever in total day across both total viewers and the key 25-54 demographic according to Nielsen Media Research. This marked the third consecutive week that […]
Football helps ESPN finish No. 2 in primetime; MSNBC is runner-up in total day.
Fox News found its way back to the top spot of the cable charts, ending a two-week run at the top by football-fused ESPN. Fox News averaged 1.7 million viewers in primetime for the week of September 18-24 to top all cable networks, according to Nielsen numbers supplied by Fox News. ESPN finished second with 1.5 million viewers, followed by MSNBC with 1.2 million watchers.
With appearances from Taylor Swift and NSYNC and performanced from Shakira, Demi Lovato and Doja Cat, this year’s MTV Video Music Awards ceremony brought in 37% more viewers than the 2022 ceremony. Tuesday’s show was watched by 865,000 people compared to 630,000 the year before. Based on fast national data from Nielsen, these stats account for both telecasts’ viewership on the MTV linear channel alone, with simulcast data from other platforms yet to come. (Getty Images for MTV)
ESPN rode its college football coverage to a big ratings win last week in both primetime and total day. The sports network averaged 3.1 million viewers in primetime during the week of Sept. 4-10 to end Fox News’ win streak on the chart at 10 weeks, according to Nielsen figures supplied by Fox News. ESPN was led by its Sept. 9 Texas-Alabama college football telecast, which generated 7.9 million viewers.
ESPN scores second place primetime finish.
Average viewership at Newsmax more than doubled in the second quarter and was higher than after the 2020 election.
TNT and ESPN’s NBA and NHL playoffs coverage kept both networks at the top of the primetime charts last week. TNT averaged 2.9 million viewers for the week of May 15 to May 21 to top all cable networks for the fifth straight week, with ESPN finishing second with 2.5 million viewers.
TNT and ESPN continued to ride live sports programming to the top of the primetime charts during the second week in May. TNT led all cable networks with an average of 3 million viewers in primetime May 5-14, according to Nielsen ratings supplied by Fox News, followed by ESPN with 2.8 million viewers. Both networks were powered by their respective NBA and NHL playoffs coverage. Fox News finished third with 1.4 million viewers, followed by MSNBC with 1.1 million viewers and HGTV with 731,000 watchers.
TNT and ESPN dominated the primetime ratings chart for the second straight week on the strength of its NBA and NHL Playoffs coverage.
Though it still handily led the 8 p.m. hour, the cable outlet’s viewers fell off by a sizable amount Monday when Carlson replacement, Fox News Tonight, was hosted by Brian Kilmeade, the first in a series of rotating hosts.
Fox News Channel withstood a challenge from March Madness-heavy TNT and TBS to remain at the top of the primetime and total-day charts last week, according to Nielsen. Fox News averaged 1.9 million viewers for the week of March 13-20 to garner its eighth-straight win in primetime, according to Nielsen. TNT finished a close second with 1.8 million viewers, followed by TBS’s 1.7 million viewers and truTV’s 1.1 million watchers. All three networks benefited from early round coverage of the March Madness NCAA men’s college basketball tournament.
Fox News Channel has extended its weekly winning streak in both primetime and total-day ratings into March. The news network averaged 2 million viewers during the week of Feb. 27-March 6 to notch its sixth straight win, according to Nielsen. ESPN finished second with 1.2 million viewers, followed by MSNBC with 1.1 million.
February marked CNN’s lowest-rated month in a decade, with the network’s primetime lineup dropping 42% among viewers 25-54 — the key demographic group valued by advertisers — compared to the same month one year ago. CNN drew an average primetime audience of 122,000 viewers in the key demo, compared to Fox News Channel’s 299,000 viewers (down 33%). MSNBC was third overall with 119,000 viewers (down 15%).
Sports nets ESPN and FS1 finish among the top-viewed networks in primetime, total day.
Fox News again topped its cable news rivals in total viewers and a key demographic during the month of September and for the third quarter. But it was a rather dismal period for the networks when it comes to drawing viewers in the key 25-54 demo, as they all saw audience declines in the category versus a year ago.
Fox News topped the March ratings as well as the first quarter of 2022, while CNN saw its ratings rise in the past month, dominated by coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Fox News averaged 2.86 million viewers in primetime, up 19% from the same month a year earlier. MSNBC averaged 1.28 million, down 29%, and CNN averaged 1.22 million, up 1%. In the 25-54 demo, Fox News averaged 529,000, up 41%, while CNN posted 366,000, up 25%, and MSNBC was at 183,000, down 23%.
End-of-year ratings are in and Fox News finished off 2021 as the top-rated basic cable channel for the sixth straight year, netting a lot of other wins along the way. MSNBC came in second place, followed by CNN, ESPN and HGTV.
Fox News also had the top five programs in cable news in total viewers and the demo.
