ABC News dominated the broadcast networks with 4.4 million total viewers
Fox News Channel dominated coverage for Tuesday’s State of the Union address as the most watched cable news channel. In broadcast, ABC News took the win.
Led by anchors Martha Maccallum and Bret Baier, Fox News Channel drew in 4.7 million total viewers and 846,000 in the key cable demo among adults 25-54 during the 9:00-10:30 p.m. coverage of President Joe Biden’s address, according to Nielsen data.
MSNBC, spearheaded by hosts Rachel Maddow, Nicolle Wallace and Joy Reid, trailed slightly behind Fox News, coming in second place for total viewership in the demo with 3.6 million viewers and third place in the demo with 496,000 viewers during the 9:00-10:30 p.m. time slot. CNN’s coverage with Jake Tapper and Anderson Cooper came in third place in terms of total viewers with 2.4 million total viewers and scored second in the demo across cable news networks with 646,000 viewers in the demo from 9:00-10:30 p.m.
The trend continued for Tuesday’s primetime winners, with Fox News coming in first place in terms of both total viewers and in the demo, with 4.4 million total viewers and 775,000 viewers in the demo from 8:00-11:00 p.m. MSNBC came in second place in total viewers with 3 million total viewers and scored third in the demo with 413,000 viewers in the demo. CNN came third in total viewers with 1.9 million total viewers and scored second in the demo with 516,000 viewers in the demo.
On the broadcast news side, ABC News, whose State of the Union coverage was led by “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir, scored first place both in total viewers with 4.4 million total viewers and among adults 25-54 with in the demo with 1.1 million viewers across broadcast news networks during 9:00-10:30.
NBC News, which was led by Lester Holt and Savannah Guthrie, came in second place for total viewers and in the demo with 3.8 million total viewers and 1 million viewers in the 25-54 demo. CBS News, whose coverage was spearheaded by Norah O’Donnell with John Dickerson, Margaret Brennan, Major Garrett, Robert Costa, Nancy Cordes, Ed O’Keefe, Nikole Killion and Scott MacFarlanefollowed in third place both in total viewers and in the demo with 3.6 million total viewers and 708,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo.
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Loree Seitz
Loree joined TheWrap as a reporter in 2022 after interning at the publication during the summer of 2021. Loree has covered entertainment, film and television for TheWrap and has reported on the media industry and the cable news beat. She has also written for MovieMaker Magazine, where she interned in 2020.