Cable News Ratings Thursday, August 26: Biden Press Conference, Trump Interview Push Fox News Past 5 Million Viewer Mark at 5 and 9 PM
Cable news on Thursday was almost wall-to-wall coverage of the horrific terrorist attack that killed U.S. service members and Afghans in Kabul.
The news first broke late in the 9 am ET hour. At 10 AM, 2.2 million viewers were tuned into Fox News, followed by 1.05 million on CNN and 834,000 on MSNBC.
President Joe Biden spoke in the 5 pm hour, and over 5.8 million people tuned into Fox News. Over 1.7 million people watched on CNN and on MSNBC. At 9 pm, Fox received over 5 million viewers again when Sean Hannity spoke with Donald Trump.
Here is a full breakdown of Thursday’s cable news ratings by show:
Total Viewers (thousands)
| ET | FNC | CNN | MSNBC | NEWSMAX | NEWSNATION |
| 6a | FOX AND FRIENDS: 1054 |
NEW DAY: 355 |
MORNING JOE: 809 |
DICK MORRIS DEMOCRACY: 26 |
— |
| 7a | FOX AND FRIENDS: 1473 |
NEW DAY: 454 |
— | WAKE UP AMERICA: 88 |
— |
| 8a | FOX AND FRIENDS: 1760 |
NEW DAY: 498 |
— | — | — |
| 9a | AMERICAS NEWSROOM: 1850 |
CNN NEWSROOM: 621 |
STEPHANIE RUHLE REPORTS: 828 |
NATIONAL REPORT: 221 |
— |
| 10a | AMERICAS NEWSROOM: 2199 |
CNN NEWSROOM: 1053 |
HALLIE JACKSON REPORTS: 834 |
— | — |
| 11a | FAULKNER FOCUS, THE: 2644 |
AT THIS HOUR: 1190 |
CRAIG MELVIN REPORTS: 933 |
— | — |
| 12p | OUTNUMBERED: 2744 |
CNN NEWSROOM: 1197 |
ANDREA MITCHELL REPORTS: 989 |
JOHN BACHMAN NOW: 298 |
— |
| 1p | AMERICA REPORTS: 2791 |
CNN NEWSROOM: 1149 |
MTP DAILY: 1127 |
— | — |
| 2p | AMERICA REPORTS: 3099 |
CNN NEWSROOM: 1308 |
KATY TUR REPORTS: 1078 |
AMERICAN AGENDA: 386 |
— |
| 3p | STORY, THE: 3552 |
CNN NEWSROOM: 1569 |
MSNBC PRESS CONFERENCE: 1122 |
— | — |
| 4p | YOUR WORLD W/NEIL CAVUTO: 3428 |
LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER: 1427 |
DEADLINE:WHITE HOUSE: 1327 |
ERIC BOLLING THE BALANCE: 479 |
— |
| 5p | FIVE, THE: 5850 |
LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER: 1784 |
— | CHRIS SALCEDO SHOW, THE: 549 |
— |
| 6p | SPECIAL RPT W/BRET BAIER: 4237 |
SITUATION ROOM: 1490 |
BEAT W/ARI MELBER: 1536 |
SPICER & CO: 522 |
NEWSNATION: RUSH HOUR: 54 |
| 7p | FOX NEWS PRIMETIME: 3653 |
ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT: 1247 |
REIDOUT: 1307 |
GREG KELLY REPORTS: 520 |
DONLON REPORT, THE: 32 |
| 8p | TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT: 4992 |
ANDERSON COOPER 360: 1263 |
ALL IN W/ CHRIS HAYES: 1461 |
STINCHFIELD: 287 |
ON BALANCE W/ VITTERT: 38 |
| 9p | HANNITY: 5445 |
CUOMO PRIME TIME: 1235 |
RACHEL MADDOW SHOW: 2565 |
CORTES & PELLEGRINO: 151 |
NEWSNATION PRIME: 46 |
| 10p | INGRAHAM ANGLE, THE: 3750 |
DON LEMON TONIGHT: 1005 |
LAST WORD W/ L. ODONNELL: 1547 |
ROB SCHMITT TONIGHT: 187 |
BANFIELD: 28 |
| 11p | FOX NEWS AT NIGHT: 2037 |
DON LEMON TONIGHT: 669 |
11TH HOUR W/B. WILLIAMS: 1167 |
GREG KELLY REPORTS: 114 |
DONLON REPORT, THE: 28 |
25-54 Demo (thousands)
| ET | FNC | CNN | MSNBC | NEWSMAX | NEWSNATION |
| 6a | FOX AND FRIENDS: 170 |
NEW DAY: 89 |
MORNING JOE: 87 |
DICK MORRIS DEMOCRACY: 2 |
— |
| 7a | FOX AND FRIENDS: 264 |
NEW DAY: 98 |
— | WAKE UP AMERICA: 14 |
— |
| 8a | FOX AND FRIENDS: 273 |
NEW DAY: 103 |
— | — | — |
| 9a | AMERICAS NEWSROOM: 304 |
CNN NEWSROOM: 117 |
STEPHANIE RUHLE REPORTS: 77 |
NATIONAL REPORT: 44 |
— |
| 10a | AMERICAS NEWSROOM: 382 |
CNN NEWSROOM: 239 |
HALLIE JACKSON REPORTS: 97 |
— | — |
| 11a | FAULKNER FOCUS, THE: 475 |
AT THIS HOUR: 223 |
CRAIG MELVIN REPORTS: 132 |
— | — |
| 12p | OUTNUMBERED: 525 |
CNN NEWSROOM: 265 |
ANDREA MITCHELL REPORTS: 125 |
JOHN BACHMAN NOW: 58 |
— |
| 1p | AMERICA REPORTS: 577 |
CNN NEWSROOM: 240 |
MTP DAILY: 152 |
— | — |
| 2p | AMERICA REPORTS: 631 |
CNN NEWSROOM: 305 |
KATY TUR REPORTS: 166 |
AMERICAN AGENDA: 77 |
— |
| 3p | STORY, THE: 711 |
CNN NEWSROOM: 308 |
MSNBC PRESS CONFERENCE: 182 |
— | — |
| 4p | YOUR WORLD W/NEIL CAVUTO: 682 |
LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER: 315 |
DEADLINE:WHITE HOUSE: 153 |
ERIC BOLLING THE BALANCE: 93 |
— |
| 5p | FIVE, THE: 1160 |
LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER: 407 |
— | CHRIS SALCEDO SHOW, THE: 99 |
— |
| 6p | SPECIAL RPT W/BRET BAIER: 833 |
SITUATION ROOM: 388 |
BEAT W/ARI MELBER: 178 |
SPICER & CO: 102 |
NEWSNATION: RUSH HOUR: 10 |
| 7p | FOX NEWS PRIMETIME: 682 |
ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT: 395 |
REIDOUT: 210 |
GREG KELLY REPORTS: 104 |
DONLON REPORT, THE: 4 |
| 8p | TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT: 958 |
ANDERSON COOPER 360: 332 |
ALL IN W/ CHRIS HAYES: 217 |
STINCHFIELD: 57 |
ON BALANCE W/ VITTERT: 1 |
| 9p | HANNITY: 1094 |
CUOMO PRIME TIME: 318 |
RACHEL MADDOW SHOW: 390 |
CORTES & PELLEGRINO: 42 |
NEWSNATION PRIME: 1 |
| 10p | INGRAHAM ANGLE, THE: 785 |
DON LEMON TONIGHT: 265 |
LAST WORD W/ L. ODONNELL: 224 |
ROB SCHMITT TONIGHT: 42 |
BANFIELD: 3 |
| 11p | FOX NEWS AT NIGHT: 462 |
DON LEMON TONIGHT: 203 |
11TH HOUR W/B. WILLIAMS: 183 |
GREG KELLY REPORTS: 11 |
DONLON REPORT, THE: 1 |
As for the three cable news networks overall, here are the total day averages in total viewers and the 25-54 category.
Total viewers:
Fox News: 2.82 million
MSNBC: 1.11 million
CNN: 999,000
25-54 Demo:
Fox News: 555,000
CNN: 237,000
MSNBC: 155,000
Here are the prime time averages— encompassing shows which air from 8:00-11:00 p.m. — in total viewers and the 25-54 demo.
Total viewers:
Fox News: 4.73 million
MSNBC: 1.86 million
CNN: 1.17 million
25-54 Demo:
Fox News: 946,000
CNN: 305,000
MSNBC: 277,000
For more ratings information and analysis go to ShowBuzz Daily.