Trump’s Acquittal Powers Fox News to Monster Wednesday With 17 of 18 Top-Rated Shows Overall

Though the outcome was no surprise, viewers dropped what they were doing and tuned in to watch President Donald Trump officially be acquitted during the 4 p.m. hour Wednesday on the three major cable news networks. But on one channel specifically, the audience stayed on long past the Senate’s not guilty declaration.

According to data from Nielsen, Fox News put up incredible numbers across the board on the trial-closing Wednesday. From sunrise to sunset — and beyond — the cable news audience flocked to Fox News in droves. In the overall category, Fox posted 17 of the top 18 programs in Wednesday’s ratings. (Only The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC, which finished ninth, broke through the Fox stronghold in the top 18.)

The highlight, as expected, was the 4 p.m. hour in which Trump was taken off the hook by the Senate. A whopping 5.4 million total viewers were watching Fox News at that hour, with 902,000 of those falling in the advertiser-coveted adults 25-54 demographic. The other networks scored during that timeslot as well. MSNBC posted 1.99 million during the Senate proceeding, with 254,000 in the demo. (The network sectioned off the period from 4:00-4:40 p.m. when the vote took place.) CNN took second in the demo with 309,000, but finished third overall with 1.59 million.

The Five benefitted from the massive lead-in to notch a second place finish in the overall Wednesday, with 5.34 million viewers. And Fox News kept the momentum going right into primetime — with Sean Hannity placing third (5.17 million), Tucker Carlson notching fourth (5.12 million), and Laura Ingraham rounding out the top five (4.71 million). Carlson, incidentally, was No. 1 in the demo — even ahead of the trial — with 971,000 in that category.

Notably, CNN’s night of town halls with the Democratic presidential candidates fared only modestly in the ratings. The 10 p.m. session with Andrew Yang did outpace timeslot competitor Lawrence O’Donnell in the key demo with 368,000 to MSNBC’s 342,000. But earlier sessions with former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) were dual-category losers to MSNBC. The Biden hour at 8 p.m. (1.14 overall, 295,000 25-54) lagged behind Chris Hayes (1.91 million/311,000). While Warren’s forum an hour later (1.04 million/315,000) trailed well behind Maddow (3.14 million/491,000).

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