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Iowa GOP Debate On Fox News Attracts More Than 5 Million Viewers

ratings
» 28 comments

Cable news ratings, August 11, 2011:

•The Republican presidential debate in Iowa Thursday night was a ratings winner for Fox News, attracting an audience of more than 5.2 million total viewers in the 10 p.m. hour. The first hour was slightly lower, with 4.8 million total viewers. Coverage of the debate at 11 p.m., hosted by Sean Hannity, dominated the hour with 2.9 million total viewers–ahead of MSNBC’s 631,000 viewers and CNN’s 513,000.

The huge audience for the debate and post-game pushed FNC’s average audience in prime well over 4 million viewers.

•CNN and MSNBC split the non-debate-viewing cable news audience at 9 and 10 p.m., with Rachel Maddow beating CNN’s Piers Morgan by just 37,000 viewers 25-54 at nine o’clock and Anderson Cooper beating MSNBC’s Ed Schultz by just 23,000 viewers 25-54 at 10 p.m.

Here’s the full scoreboard:

TV NEWS RATINGS: 25-54 DEMOGRAPHIC (L +SD)
Fox News CNN MSNBC CNN Headline News
5 pm The5

331

Blitzer

141

Matthews

160

Special

80

6 pm Baier

338

Blitzer

151

Live

173

Prime

90

7 pm Shep

341

King

153

Matthews

177

Issues

105

8 pm O’Reilly

565

Cooper

193

O’Donnell

246

Grace

207

9 pm Debate

1306

Morgan

228

Maddow

265

DrDrew

196

10 pm Debate

1546

Cooper

237

Schultz

214

Behar

127

11 pm Hannity

908

King

219

O’Donnell

243

Showbiz

76

TOTAL DAY 411 145 143 103
PRIME TIME 1143 219 241 173
Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data.
TV NEWS RATINGS: TOTAL VIEWERS (L +SD)
Fox News CNN MSNBC CNN Headline News
5 pm The5

1363

Blitzer

513

Matthews

690

Special

283

6 pm Baier

1667

Blitzer

495

Live

683

Prime

366

7 pm Shep

1549

King, USA

420

Matthews

676

Issues

536

8 pm O’Reilly

2995

Cooper

579

O’Donnell

842

Grace

833

9 pm Debate

4819

Morgan

688

Maddow

818

DrDrew

697

10 pm Debate

5280

Cooper

647

Schultz

693

Behar

444

11 pm Hannity

2858

King

513

O’Donnell

631

Showbiz

270

TOTAL DAY 1495 421 455 324
PRIME TIME 4369 638 785 645
Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data

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  • sc

    seems low

  • Anonymous

    Yep, FNC won again

  • Anonymous
  • The Real Royal Emperor

    Only someone who did not watch the debate could say that. Dreadful. Baier, Wallace and that woman from the Examiner were among the worst debate moderators and panel members I’ve ever seen. Only York was passable.

    The candidates! President Obama must be offering Hosannas tonight. 

  • James

    You are a F*cking idiot!

  • Zach

    would have watched but Jersey Shore was on at the same time

  • http://twitter.com/Staciisa_bitch Staci Chase

    I see that a lot of retired people like watching debates!!  

  • Anonymous

    All of us political junkies should have been watching it.
    Know your friends and know your enemies. Either way, watch it of forget politics and take up some other hobby.

  • Anonymous

    All of us political junkies should have been watching it.
    Know your friends and know your enemies. Either way, watch it of forget politics and take up some other hobby.

  • Anonymous

    All of us political junkies should have been watching it.
    Know your friends and know your enemies. Either way, watch it of forget politics and take up some other hobby.

  • Anonymous

    All of us political junkies should have been watching it.
    Know your friends and know your enemies. Either way, watch it of forget politics and take up some other hobby.

  • Anonymous

    I happen to be one.

  • Anonymous

    The Republican debate = Snow White and the 7 dwarves.

  • Anonymous

    Who knew?  You air a Republican debate on a Republican news channel and they watched it!

  • Anonymous

    2008 redux 2.0… and all the other comparisons. At lest MEEECain learned to shut up. No wait, he is still loving the gray lady with his attacks on real conservatives. It will be good to see which hobbit he supports. Maybe o’barry?

  • Anonymous

    Hosannas? Depends on which religion he follows this week, which is decided by which golf course he is on, on any given Sunday.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-518585/Obama-turban-Barack-accuses-Hillary-smear-campaign-circulating-photos-dressed-Muslim.html

  • posterchild

    All in all, back in 07 – more people watch Dems debates vs GOP. 

    http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/in-debate-ratings-democrats-trump-republicans/

  • posterchild

    And this is a good thing?
    This is troubling, yet explains so much as to why there are so many “low information” voters.

  • Anonymous

    If that’s true, how do you explain Obama’s winning in 2008?

  • Anonymous

    Or chants to allah !!!!!

  • Anonymous

    Like the ones who voted for BO?  Question is, will they make the same mistake twice?  Remember, fool me once, shame on me…………………..fool me twice, shame on you.  Looks like too many people are suffering from buyer’s remorse now.

  • Anonymous

    Goes for a lot of jobless people too.   Looking for a true change !!!

  • Anonymous

    Based on “premier” week, it appears that the CNN’s “Aderson Cooper 360″ “live” hour is getting beat big time.  His re-run even beats his first “live” hour. 

    Is it still too early, or is this another ratings/scheduling flop for CNN?

    Fox continues to “kick butt.”

  • Anonymous

    I believe 2.5<5.0.     Or are you using democratic math???

  • Anonymous

    Just further proof of  -  “The vast waistland.”

  • Hagen619dj

    Because he had George Soros to pay the price.  He was bought. Just like the slaves.  He did nothing to get himself that high into being a candidate, repeat: he was purchased.

  • Hagen619dj

    Fox does a great job. Always tune into them before any other network.  If advertising on Fox…then I watch one of the others. Most of them sinc their advertising so then I’m stuck with MSNBC. But I don’t stay there long.

  • Hagen619dj

    Fox does a great job. Always tune into them before any other network.  If advertising on Fox…then I watch one of the others. Most of them sinc their advertising so then I’m stuck with MSNBC. But I don’t stay there long.

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