Fox News Averages 2 Million More Prime Time Viewers Than Closest Cable Competitor

CNN, HGTV, USA and Discovery round out the Top 5 primetime cable networks last week

Rupert Murdoch Fox News
TheWrap

Fox News continued to dominate the cable television landscape, finishing as the most-watched network in both total and primetime viewers for the week of Jan 16-22, including topping its closest cable competitor in prime time by over 2 million viewers.

During prime time, Rupert Murdoch’s cable news juggernaut averaged 3.9 million viewers to beat No. 2 CNN, which averaged 1.7 million viewers. Meanwhile, HGTV, USA and Discovery join the cable news networks among the top five in the evenings.

For total day, Fox News averaged 2.5 million viewers, while Nickelodeon finished second with an average of 1.3 million. CNN, HGTV and Investigation Discovery rounded out the top five most-watched networks among all of basic cable.

Despite the inauguration, MSNBC failed to crack the top five in either category, finishing No. 8 in total viewers and No. 6 in prime time.

During Friday’s inauguration coverage from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. ET, Fox News averaged 8.76 million viewers to beat CNN, MSNBC, HLN, FBN and CNBC combined. Fox News also beat broadcast election coverage, with NBC’s 5.79 million viewers finishing second.

Fox News wasn’t Murdoch’s only successful network last week, as Fox Business had its highest rated week of the year in both Business Day and Total Day last week, topping CNBC across the board in total viewers. FBN’s Inauguration coverage led by Neil Cavuto was the highest in network history and marked FBN’s first total day sweep of CNBC across Business Day, Prime and Total Day this year.

On Saturday, January 21, during post-inauguration coverage, Fox News’ “The Cost of Freedom” was the most-watched program in cable news for the day, averaging 3.5 million total viewers.

Fox News is scheduled to air an exclusive cable interview with President Donald Trump on Thursday’s edition of “Hannity.”

Comments