Fox News edged CNN among total viewers during James Comey’s Senate hearing on Thursday, but CNN was the most-watched station among the key news demo including both cable and broadcast networks.
Fox News averaged 3.096 million total viewers, compared to CNN’s 3.049 million, from 10 a.m. through 1 p.m. ET when Comey was grilled by the Senate Intelligence Committee. MSNBC finished third, averaging 2.7 million viewers.
CNN dominated the key news demo of adults age 25-54, averaging 1.02 million viewers compared to 630,000 for MSNBC and 600,000 for Fox News. CNN even beat all the major broadcast networks in the demo, as NBC averaged 859,000 viewers to beat ABC’s 854,000 and CBS’ 784,000.
ABC just barely beat CBS among total viewers, averaging 3.295 million compared to 3.286 million. NBC finished third with 2.73 million viewers.
During primetime analysis of the Comey hearing, Fox News dominated among total viewers but MSNBC won the demo. Fox News averaged 3.2 million viewers from 8-11 p.m. ET, while MSNBC averaged 2.76 million and CNN averaged 1.7 million. Among the demo, MSNBC averaged 757,000 primetime viewers compared to 667,000 for Fox News. CNN finished third with an average of 601,000 primetime viewers between from age 25-54.
Comey’s testimony was must-see TV for many Americans and many bars opened early to allow for people to gather and watch together.
“Yesterday showed no collusion, no obstruction. We are doing really well. That was an excuse by the Democrats who lost an election that some people think they shouldn’t have lost,” President Trump said on Friday. “It was just an excuse but we were very, very happy. Frankly, James Comey confirmed a lot of what I said.”