Fox News, CNN Split Ratings Wins on Tuesday; Both Networks Draw More Than 1M Demo Viewers Across Primetime
The cable news audience surge continued apace on Tuesday as nationwide anti-police brutality protests entered their second week, with CNN and Fox News pulling in incredible ratings numbers and topping one million viewers in the coveted 25 – 54 age demographic across all three hours of primetime.
Both of those networks shared the ratings victories on Tuesday, with CNN taking daytime and primetime wins in the demo and Fox News topping all competitors across all dayparts in overall viewers. According to Nielsen Media Research, CNN drew 586,000 and 1.15 million A25 – 54 viewers in daytime and primetime, besting Fox News’ 400,000 and 1.05 million. MSNBC trailed behind with 278,000 and 603,000, respectively.
In total viewers, Fox News scored first in primetime and claimed a narrower victory in daytime. It attracted 2.18 million overall viewers between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. and 4.87 million in total between 8:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. CNN, by contrast, only managed 1.88 million in daytime and 2.96 million in primetime. MSNBC squeaked into second place in primetime with 3.03 million total viewers, but fell to third in daytime with 1.67 million.
Leading all primetime shows in the demo: CNN’s Don Lemon Tonight, which topped all cable news competition on Tuesday with 1.18 million viewers. But Lemon’s lead-ins at 8:00 and 9:00 p.m. also topped one million and won their respective time-slots, with Anderson Cooper 360 pulling in 1.1.6 million and Cuomo Prime Time with Chris Cuomo garnering 1.11 million. Fox News’ primetime line-up, despite coming in a close second, was also remarkably steady across all three hours, 1.08 million, 1.03 million, and 1.04 million, from 8:00 to 11:00 p.m., respectively.
Fox News far outpaced its primetime rivals in overall audience, though. With Tucker Carlson Tonight peaking beyond five million viewers at 8:00 p.m. Hannity, at 9:00 p.m. also won its time-slot easily, with 4.97 million total viewers, beating out its next-closest competitor, The Rachel Maddow Show, that had 3.77 million overall. And The Ingraham Angle bested both CNN and MSNBC by nearly two million viewers, thanks to its 4.58 million viewers overall.
