MSNBC, CNN Draw Big Ratings for Georgia Runoff Election Coverage

MSNBC and CNN each notched ratings victories on Jan. 5, as viewers watched both networks’ special coverage of the Georgia senate runoff election. MSNBC had the most viewers overall, while CNN continued to dominate in the younger demographic of viewers age 25-54. Fox News had the second-most viewers overall, but fell far behind in the demo.

An average 4.66 million viewers (1.15 million in the demo) tuned in to MSNBC’s prime time election night special, anchored by Rachel Maddow and Brian Williams and featuring analysis from Nicolle Wallace, Joy Reid, and Steve Kornacki. Fox News largely kept to its regular prime time opinion programming, breaking into Hannity, Tucker Carlson Tonight, and The Ingraham Angle with reporting from Bret Baier, Martha MacCallum, and Shannon Bream, and analysis from Bill Hemmer, Chris Wallace, Brit Hume, Dana Perino, and Juan Williams, and had the second-most total viewers during prime time, 4.35 million, but only 876,000 in the demo. CNN, with special coverage anchored by Jake Tapper and analysis from Dana Bash, Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, John King, and Abby Phillip, had the fewest prime time viewers overall, nearly 3.9 million, but dominated the demo with nearly 1.4 million younger viewers.

MSNBC’s and CNN’s dominance continued into the early-morning hours as special election night coverage continued. From 11:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m., MSNBC averaged 3.65 million viewers, with 1.02 million in the demo. CNN’s continued special coverage averaged 2.97 million viewers, but won the demo with 1.23 million younger viewers. Fox’s late-night coverage was significantly behind its competitors, with 2.08 million average viewers from 11:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m., and an average 537,000 in the demo.