Cable News Ratings Tuesday March 1: Fox News Pulls in Largest-Ever Audience for State of the Union Delivered by a Democrat

Mediaite StaffMar 2nd, 2022, 6:33 pm
 

Fox News attracted the largest audience on Tuesday night for President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, setting a new record for Democratic president.

The network boasted a total 7.2 million viewers between 9 and 10:15 p.m. – the duration of Biden’s address. CNN brought in 4.8 million total viewers and MSNBC had some 4.06 million total viewers during the same time period.

Fox’s audience is the largest in the history of cable news for a Democratic president. The previous record belonged to President Obama, who scored 5.74 million viewers on Fox in 2010, the same address brought in 3.32 million viewers on CNN. Across all three networks, Biden’s address was the most-watched on cable news by a Democrat.

Trump’s addresses in 2018, 2019, and 2020 all raked in more than 11 million total viewers on Fox News and saw higher ratings on CNN and MSNBC as well.

In the key 25-54 age demographic, CNN just edged out Fox with 1.78 million viewers to 1.71 million viewers. MSNBC trailed far behind with 680,000 demo viewers.

Fox maintained its dominance during the post-speech analysis with 5.87 million viewers. CNN dropped down to 2.95 million, while MSNBC went down to 2.74 million viewers.

Notably, cable news blew away most of the networks in terms of total viewers for the address. ABC led with 5.9 million, CBS brought in 3.8 million, followed by NBC with 3.2 million and Fox with 1.5 million.

Here is a full breakdown of Tuesday’s cable news ratings by show:

Total Viewers (thousands)

ET FNC CNN MSNBC NEWSMAX NEWSNATION
6a FOX AND FRIENDS:
1534		 NEW DAY:
619		 MORNING JOE:
1107		 ROB CARSONS WHAT IN THE:
16		 ELEMENTARY:
20
7a FOX AND FRIENDS:
2031		 NEW DAY:
893		 — WAKE UP AMERICA:
121		 MORNING IN AMERICA:
25
8a FOX AND FRIENDS:
2370		 NEW DAY:
1151		 — — —
9a AMERICAS NEWSROOM:
2440		 CNN NEWSROOM:
1283		 MSNBC REPORTS- LIVE:
1037		 NATIONAL REPORT:
202		 —
10a AMERICAS NEWSROOM:
2504		 CNN NEWSROOM:
1350		 JOSE DIAZ-BALART REPORTS:
788		 — IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT:
99
11a FAULKNER FOCUS, THE:
2419		 AT THIS HOUR:
1335		 CRAIG MELVIN REPORTS:
770		 — IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT:
143
12p OUTNUMBERED:
2551		 INSIDE POLITICS:
1434		 ANDREA MITCHELL REPORTS:
901		 JOHN BACHMAN NOW:
189		 IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT:
217
1p AMERICA REPORTS:
2368		 CNN NEWSROOM:
1579		 MTP DAILY:
832		 — BLUE BLOODS:
205
2p AMERICA REPORTS:
2528		 CNN NEWSROOM:
1638		 KATY TUR REPORTS:
939		 AMERICAN AGENDA:
181		 BLUE BLOODS:
235
3p STORY, THE:
2390		 CNN NEWSROOM:
1753		 HALLIE JACKSON REPORTS:
936		 — BLUE BLOODS:
265
4p YOUR WORLD W/NEIL CAVUTO:
2585		 LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER:
1728		 DEADLINE:WHITE HOUSE:
1470		 ERIC BOLLING THE BALANCE:
267		 BLUE BLOODS:
263
5p FIVE, THE:
4381		 LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER:
1676		 — CHRIS SALCEDO SHOW, THE:
275		 NEWSNATION: RUSH HOUR:
107
6p SPECIAL RPT W/BRET BAIER:
3694		 SITUATION ROOM:
1586		 BEAT W/ARI MELBER:
1482		 SPICER & CO:
325		 DONLON REPORT, THE:
80
7p JESSE WATTERS PRIMETIME:
3934		 ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT:
1822		 REIDOUT:
1561		 GREG KELLY REPORTS:
386		 ON BALANCE W/ VITTERT:
94
8p TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT:
5367		 ANDERSON COOPER 360:
2632		 MSNBC SPECIAL COVERAGE:
2656		 PRE-STATE OF THE UNION AD:
348		 SPL RPT: STATE OF UNION:
91
9p — STATE OF UNION PREVIEW:
4179		 — STATE OF THE UNION ADDRES:
462		 STATE OF THE UNION 2022:
153
10p — — — — —
11p HANNITY:
3878		 STATE OF UNION ANALYSIS:
1677		 MSNBC SPECIAL COVERAGE:
1877		 GREG KELLY REPORTS:
160		 SPL RPT: STATE OF UNION:
46

25-54 Demo (thousands)

ET FNC CNN MSNBC NEWSMAX NEWSNATION
6a FOX AND FRIENDS:
405		 NEW DAY:
130		 MORNING JOE:
146		 ROB CARSONS WHAT IN THE:
0		 ELEMENTARY:
6
7a FOX AND FRIENDS:
569		 NEW DAY:
192		 — WAKE UP AMERICA:
20		 MORNING IN AMERICA:
4
8a FOX AND FRIENDS:
521		 NEW DAY:
312		 — — —
9a AMERICAS NEWSROOM:
488		 CNN NEWSROOM:
339		 MSNBC REPORTS- LIVE:
140		 NATIONAL REPORT:
42		 —
10a AMERICAS NEWSROOM:
544		 CNN NEWSROOM:
352		 JOSE DIAZ-BALART REPORTS:
122		 — IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT:
11
11a FAULKNER FOCUS, THE:
478		 AT THIS HOUR:
375		 CRAIG MELVIN REPORTS:
113		 — IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT:
25
12p OUTNUMBERED:
491		 INSIDE POLITICS:
378		 ANDREA MITCHELL REPORTS:
130		 JOHN BACHMAN NOW:
49		 IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT:
37
1p AMERICA REPORTS:
445		 CNN NEWSROOM:
423		 MTP DAILY:
130		 — BLUE BLOODS:
20
2p AMERICA REPORTS:
412		 CNN NEWSROOM:
467		 KATY TUR REPORTS:
137		 AMERICAN AGENDA:
45		 BLUE BLOODS:
41
3p STORY, THE:
427		 CNN NEWSROOM:
461		 HALLIE JACKSON REPORTS:
125		 — BLUE BLOODS:
50
4p YOUR WORLD W/NEIL CAVUTO:
496		 LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER:
464		 DEADLINE:WHITE HOUSE:
144		 ERIC BOLLING THE BALANCE:
46		 BLUE BLOODS:
36
5p FIVE, THE:
761		 LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER:
504		 — CHRIS SALCEDO SHOW, THE:
62		 NEWSNATION: RUSH HOUR:
7
6p SPECIAL RPT W/BRET BAIER:
734		 SITUATION ROOM:
518		 BEAT W/ARI MELBER:
155		 SPICER & CO:
58		 DONLON REPORT, THE:
3
7p JESSE WATTERS PRIMETIME:
847		 ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT:
610		 REIDOUT:
264		 GREG KELLY REPORTS:
52		 ON BALANCE W/ VITTERT:
9
8p TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT:
1097		 ANDERSON COOPER 360:
942		 MSNBC SPECIAL COVERAGE:
435		 PRE-STATE OF THE UNION AD:
70		 SPL RPT: STATE OF UNION:
13
9p — STATE OF UNION PREVIEW:
1505		 — STATE OF THE UNION ADDRES:
79		 STATE OF THE UNION 2022:
27
10p — — — — —
11p HANNITY:
862		 STATE OF UNION ANALYSIS:
584		 MSNBC SPECIAL COVERAGE:
357		 GREG KELLY REPORTS:
17		 SPL RPT: STATE OF UNION:
8

As for the three cable news networks overall, here are the total day averages in total viewers and the 25-54 Demo.

Total viewers:

CNN: 1.65 million

Fox: 3.09 million

MSNBC: 1.41 million

25-54 Demo:

CNN: 516,000

Fox News: 663,000

MSNBC: 213,000

Here are the prime time averages — encompassing shows which air from 8-11 p.m. — in total viewers and the 25-54 demo.

Total viewers:

CNN: 3.63 million

Fox News: 6.28 million

MSNBC: 3.29 million

25-54 Demo:

CNN: 1.32 million

Fox News: 1.41 million

MSNBC: 554,000

For more ratings information and analysis go to ShowBuzz Daily.

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