Fox News celebrated a decade as the top-rated cable news station Monday by ringing the opening bell at the NASDAQ.
Greta Van Susteren joined Fox Business Network’s Lou Dobbs, Liz Claman, Lori Rothman, and Melissa Francis to ring the bell. The network first surpassed CNN in January 2002, and now outpaces rivals CNN and MSNBC combined in total viewership.
"We are extremely proud of the phenomenal achievement created by the hard work and talent of the FOX News Channel employees and recognize how difficult it is for a cable network to sustain this level of dominance for a decade," said FOX News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes. "America has clearly embraced fair and balanced news."
In primetime for this month, FNC averaged 1,942,000 viewers, an increase of 78 percent since January 2002.
Also in January, Fox News claimed all of the top 13 shows in cable news in total viewers. It also claimed nine out of the top ten programs based in the adults 25-54 demo typically used to measure news audiences. FNC was also the fifth ranked overall cable station behind ESPN, USA, History and TBS.
Meanwhile, in other cable-ratings news, CNN bested its rival MSNBC in both the key adults 18-49 demographic and total viewership in January.
In the weeknight primetime hours between 8 and 11 p.m., CNN won out over MSNBC in the target demo with 329,000 over MSNBC's 225,000. That represents a 58 percent gain in the demo versus a year ago for CNN, and a 15 percent loss for MSNBC in the same period.
In total viewership, CNN won out over MSNBC for the month with an average of 976,000 viewers compared to 942,000.
CNN also emerged victorious in Monday through Sunday primetime in January, averaging 842,000 viewers compared to MSNBC's 804,000, with an average 282,000 viewers in the key demo versus MSNBC's 219,000.
"Anderson Cooper 360" showed particularly strong growth for CNN, climbing 42 percent in the target demo compared to last year with its 8 p.m. broadcast and 61 percent for its 10 p.m. airing versus a year ago.
