Hannity Town Hall with Trump Scores 1 Million in the Demo, Biggest Total Ratings in All of Television on Thursday
Hannity scored nearly one million viewers in the coveted 25 – 54 age demographic and the highest total ratings in all of television on Thursday, thanks to his town hall with President Donald Trump. That monster performance powered Fox News to big wins in primetime and a solid victory in total day ratings.
Across the 6:00 a.m. – 2:00 a.m. daypart, Fox News topped its rivals with 2.20 million overall viewers and 381,000 in the demo, according to Nielsen Media Research. CNN came in second among A25 –54 viewers with 310,000 but fell to third in total viewers with 1.15 million. MSNBC flip-flopped with CNN in the demo and overall ratings, with 236,000 in the demo and 1.61 million overall. Outside of primetime, Fox’s The Five topped all other shows, with 3.24 million total viewers and 457,000 in the demo.
But in primetime, Fox News soared above the competition, averaging an impressive 831,000 in the demo on Thursday. That figure was nearly 70 percent higher than CNN’s 494,000 viewers and more than double MSNBC’s 393,000 A25 – 54 audience. In overall viewers, Fox pulled in 4.38 million viewers, easily outdistancing MSNBC’s 2.59 million and CNN’s 1.77 million in total.
Driving this victory was the Hannity in-person town hall with Trump held in an aircraft manufacturing facility in the swing state of Wisconsin. That program led all shows on television on Thursday with 5.11 million total viewers, and its 968,000 viewers in the demo easily led all of cable news. Hannity’s town hall, however, had no real tentpole effect on its 8:00 p.m. lead-in, Tucker Carlson Tonight, which saw almost the exact same ratings on Thursday (4.25 million; 807,000) as its posted on Tuesday (4.26 million; 807,000). But the 9:00 p.m. ratings surge did have a downstream benefit on The Ingraham Angle, which pulled in a higher-than-average 3.77 million total overall viewers and 718,000 in the demo.
Other noteworthy primetime performances included MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, which ranked fourth in overall cable news ratings with 3.15 million viewers. CNN’s best programs trailed far behind in total viewers, but its 9:00 and 10:00 p.m. programming, Cuomo Prime Time and CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, pulled in 490,000 and 520,000 A25 – 54 viewers, good enough to finish among the cable news top five in the demo.
