CNN Wins Prime Time Demo, Fox News Grabs Most Total Viewers

Rival cable news networks thrive during the wild 2016 election cycle

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CNN finished No. 1 in cable news among the key primetime demo of adults age 25-54 for the week of March 28-April 3. The network has now finished ahead of Fox News during the primetime demo in four of the past seven weeks.

While CNN beat Fox News in the primetime demo, Rupert Murdoch’s network won just about everything else. Fox News was No. 3 in all of cable among total viewers in primetime, averaging 1.8 million viewers compared to CNN’s 1.2 million.

Fox News also finished ahead of CNN in total day viewers, averaging 1.1 million compared to 689,000 for CNN. MSNBC lags behind in all categories, averaging 965,000 primetime viewers and 549,000 in total day.

TBS, AMC, HGTV and USA join Fox News as the top five primetime networks among total viewers. FNC had three shows in the Top 25 basic cable telecasts includin,”The O’Reilly Factor” with substitute host Eric Bolling, “The Five” and “Special Report with Bret Baier.”

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