In the aftermath of the deadly terror attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo that killed 12 on Wednesday, more people watched Fox News than any other cable news network in both total day and primetime, while CNN topped cable news in the coveted 25-54 demo.
Fox News drew 2,125,000 total viewers in primetime and 1,414,00 total day viewers. CNN won the 25-54 demo in both primetime and total day, with 390,000 primetime viewers and 289,000 total day viewers (CNN attracted 941,000 primetime viewers and 801,000 total day viewers). MSNBC ranked third in both measurements with 724,000,000 primetime viewers and 164,000 primetime demo viewers along with 442,000 total day viewers and 103,000 demo viewers during the day.
The news broke across cable news in the 6 p.m. ET hour. From 6am-9am ET, “Fox & Friends” won every hour in total viewers and won 6am-7am and 7am-8am in the 25-54 demo. CNN’s “New Day” topped the demo from 8am-9am ET with 276,000 viewers vs. 236,000 for Fox.
Anderson Cooper had a whirlwind day that included a cross-continental flight and ratings success. The primetime anchor woke up early to anchor “CNN Newsroom” at 9am ET, beating Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” in the 25-54 demo, 307,000 viewers vs. 238,000 viewers. Fox News won the hour in total viewers, 1,281,000 viewers vs CNN’s 805,000.
Cooper then hopped a plane to Paris, anchoring “Anderson Cooper 360” from 8pm-10am ET. During that period, his broadcast beat both Fox News’ “O’Reilly Factor” and “The Kelly File” in the 25-54 demo.
At 8pm ET, Cooper drew 439,000 viewers vs. O’Reilly’s 437,000; at 9pm ET, he attracted 412,000 viewers vs. Kelly’s 348,000 viewers. Both O’Reilly and Kelly won by a large margin in total viewers, 2,759,000 viewers and 2,184,000 viewers, respectively. Cooper drew 1,037,000 total viewers at 8pm ET and 940,000 viewers at 9pm ET.