Fox News Scores Monster Friday, Weekend Ratings for Trump’s Mt. Rushmore, 4th of July Speeches
Fox News enjoyed massive Friday and Saturday night ratings thanks to consecutive Independence Day speeches by President Donald Trump at Mt. Rushmore and Washington, D.C. During the former, Fox achieved truly monster numbers, attracting roughly five-and-a-half million overall viewers and more than one million in the coveted 25 – 54 age demographic.
On Friday, Fox News swept both total day and primetime ratings, according to Nielsen Media Research, with 2.28 million overall and 372,000 A25 –54 viewers in total day and 4.53 million overall and 757,000 viewers in the demo in primetime. But the network’s ratings soared in the last two hours of the day during its live broadcast of Trump’s address at the Independence Day celebration in South Dakota. In the last hour of primetime, Fox pulled in a staggering 5.70 million total viewers and 997,000 in the demo, as Trump took the stage just a few minutes before 11:00 p.m. As his controversial speech ran to nearly 11:30 p.m., Fox’s final hour of the day ratings edged up in the demo to 1.04 million while total viewers dipped to 5.39 million.
The story was similar on Saturday, as Fox similarly won both overall and A25 – 54 viewers in total day (1.68 million; 274,000) and primetime (2.54 million; 370,000), albeit by narrower margins of victory over CNN (1.09 million, 237,000; 1.81 million, 350,000) and MSNBC (830,000, 129,000; 681,000; 109,000). The network’s Trump speech broadcast spiked its ratings during the 7:00 p.m. hour on Saturday, as the president offered up another highly politicized 4th of July address at the nation’s capital. During the address, Fox’s 7:00 p.m. programming topped all of cable news for the weekend with 3.38 overall viewers and 517,000 in the demo.
On a sleepy holiday-weekend Sunday, Fox News and CNN split total day and primetime ratings in the demo. In the former, Fox News posted 1.26 million total viewers and 207,000 from 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m., edging out CNN’s 897,000 overall and 201,000 A25 – 54 viewers. In primetime, though, CNN won in the demo with 239,000 versus Fox News’ 226,000. Fox took primetime in total viewers, with 1.51 million, nearly doubling CNN’s 896,000 and MSNBC’s 739,000.
