CNN’s ramped-up political coverage helped the network finish No. 1 last week in all of cable during primetime among both total viewers and the key demo of adults age 25-54.
Cable News Network’s big week included Tuesday’s primary coverage and Donald Trump’s press conference, a Democratic town hall, a Democratic debate, a GOP debate and Trump’s Chicago event, which was canceled over security concerns. Fox News finished second in primetime, followed by HGTV, AMC and USA.
Fox News continued its streak as the No. 1 cable channel in total-day viewing, while CNN was No. 4 and MSNBC finished 17th.
For the month of February, a series of successful debates and town halls pushed CNN past Fox News during primetime in the key demo of adults age 25-54. CNN averaged 500,000 viewers, edging Fox News’ 427,000. CNN grew a whopping 194 percent compared to February of last year. MSNBC was a distant third in the prime-time demo, averaging only 244,000 viewers, but did show significant growth, up 103 percent.
Meanwhile, Fox News’ streak as the most-watched cable network grew to eight weeks with the total-day victory, but Nickelodeon still holds the all-time record with 23 straight weeks in 2014. Adult Swim and HGTV join Fox News, Nickelodeon and CNN in the Top 5 cable networks among total-day viewers.