Q2 2014 Cable News Ratings: Fox News Hits 50th Straight Quarter at #1
The second quarter of 2014 is over, and the cable news ratings numbers are in, along with the requisite spin from the big three networks. The perennial leader Fox News reached a new milestone, clocking its 50th straight quarter and 150th straight month at #1. Meanwhile, CNN and MSNBC continued their ongoing battle for second place, with CNN scoring a significant victory in total day but failing to surpass MSNBC in primetime.
See the full breakdown (in thousands) below, followed by highlights from each network.
| TV NEWS RATINGS: 25-54 DEMOGRAPHIC (L +SD) Q2 2014 | ||||
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| TOTAL DAY | 189 | 105 | 103 | 105 | PRIME TIME | 265 | 156 | 159 | 124 |
| Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data. | ||||
| TV NEWS RATINGS: TOTAL VIEWERS (L +SD) Q2 2014 | ||||
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| TOTAL DAY | 940 | 341 | 334 | 247 | PRIME TIME | 1.588 | 459 | 570 | 340 |
| Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data | ||||
Fox News
With 50 straight quarters of wins in its rearview mirror, Fox News shows no signs of losing its dominant edge. In total viewers, Fox beat CNN and MSNBC combined in both total day and primetime. While Fox is the #6 most-watched cable channel overall in primetime and #7 in total day, CNN and MSNBC are down in the high twenties/low thirties. On top of that, in Q2 Fox claimed the top 14 spots in the list of most-watched cable news shows in total viewers and nine of the top 10 most-watched shows in the 25-54 demo.
The O’Reilly Factor remained the top show for Fox (and cable news as a whole), averaging 2.361M total viewers and 365K in the demo at 8 p.m. The Kelly File, which has been beating Bill O’Reilly’s show in the 9 p.m. slot on occasion, came in second overall, averaging 1.998M total viewers and 332K total.
If there’s any bad news for Fox, it’s that, like the rest of cable news, their numbers continue to fall compared to the previous year. In total viewers, the network was down 20% in total day and 16% in primetime compared to Q2 2013. That’s not as precipitous as CNN’s fall over the same period, but it’s far worse than MSNBC’s. In the demo, the network had its lowest quarterly performance since Q2 2001.
CNN
Good news for CNN: It’s beating MSNBC (just barely) in total day. Bad news for CNN: It’s still in third place in primetime. With a 105K average in the demo for total day, CNN tied sister network HLN for second place, putting MSNBC in fourth place in that category last quarter. But MSNBC’s 159K in the primetime demo beat CNN’s 156K by 3,000 viewers. But while MSNBC dropped from 217K in the primetime demo in Q1 2014, CNN was had a smaller drop from 169K. In other words, they are closing the gap.
With an average 499K total viewers, Anderson Cooper 360 was the most-watched show on CNN in primetime for the quarter. Anderson Cooper’s 8 p.m. show was the second-highest rated hour on CNN in the demo with 158K behind CNN Special Report’s 170K.
Another bright spot for CNN came in the form of Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown, which was the #1 show across all of cable news in the 25-54 demo, averaging 402K over its eight Sunday night episodes. That show helped make CNN #1 in the the weekend primetime demo for Q2 with an average 189K viewers and #2 among total viewers with 483K.
On the other hand, CNN’s ratings dropped more than any other cable news network compared to the same quarter last year. In total day, CNN was down 28% in total viewers and 35% in the demo. In primetime, it was down 31% in total viewers and 32% in the demo. Additionally, following Piers Morgan’s departure, CNN’s still mostly unresolved 9 p.m. hour sunk to an all-time low in total viewers.
MSNBC
While MSNBC lost ground to CNN in total day this quarter, it managed to hold on to its second place rank in primetime for the 25-54 demo and total viewers. However, the gap between CNN and MSNBC narrowed from Q1 to Q2 of this year.
Once again, The Rachel Maddow Show was the leader on the network with 184K in the demo and 815K total viewers, beating CNN’s 9 p.m. hour in both categories. Hardball with Chris Matthews was #2 on MSNBC with 145K in the demo and 742K total viewers. With 611K total viewers at 8 p.m., All In with Chris Hayes beat CNN’s Anderson Cooper, but trailed him in the demo, averaging 136K to Cooper’s 158K.
On the bright side for MSNBC, it saw the smallest drop-off of any cable news network compared to Q2 2013. While Fox and CNN were both down double digits compared to the previous year, MSNBC saw just a 7% drop in total day and a 1% drop in primetime when it came to total viewers. In the demo, those decreases were more significant, 16% for total day and 17% in the demo, respectively. But overall, in a cable news environment that is losing viewers year-to-year, MSNBC did the best of holding on to what it has.
[Photo via screengrab]
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