Brexit Vote Coverage Hands FBN First Primetime Ratings Sweep Over CNBC

Fox Business Network wins with wall-to-wall news about crucial British breakaway referendum

Fox Business Network
Stuart Varney, Fox Business Network

The Brexit vote was good for at least one entity: Fox Business Network.

FBN delivered wall-to-wall coverage of the crucial referendum — in which British voters elected on Thursday to exit the European Union — and came away with a landmark primetime win over archrival CNBC, according to Nielsen.

FBN logged an average of 242,000 total viewers from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern time, compared with 198,000 for CNBC.

That marked FBN’s first-ever primetime sweep over CNBC.

At 11 p.m., as the vote was rolling in, a special edition of “Varney & Co.,” anchored by Stuart Varney, walked away with 238,000 viewers – an impressive tally for a business show at that hour.

FBN also delivered strong numbers by covering the Brexit voting before the results came in; CNBC opted to air repeats of “Jay Leno‘s Garage” and “American Greed.”

There could be more opportunities ahead. The Brexit vote roiled markets worldwide and prompted British Prime Minister David Cameron to announce his resignation.

A total of 17.4 million Britons voted to leave the European Union, representing 51.9% of the vote.

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