The Trump Show Tops Cable News Ratings: Fox’s Airing of Trump Presser Wins Day, Hannity’s Trump Interview Wins Prime
Sean Hannity had the top rated show in prime time cable news Tuesday, drawing 4.79 million total viewers and 1.02 million in the advertiser coveted 25-54 demo.
While Hannity has for several years reliably been the number 1 show on cable news — aside from a few blips that saw Fox’s Tucker Carlson or MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow take the top spot — he was back on top Tuesday night, perhaps boosted by a phone interview with President Donald Trump.
That said, Hannity came second to a show that has enjoyed massive ratings this month: Special Report with Bret Baier. That’s not because Bret Baier’s 6 p.m. show has suddenly become a massive hit. It’s because that’s the hour Trump has been holding his daily coronavirus briefings from the White House, which reliably air in full on Fox News.
In the 6 p.m. hour, which was entirely pre-empted by the Trump briefing, Fox News drew a whopping 1.22 million viewers in the demo and 5.59 million viewers overall. CNN’s briefing ratings actually peaked in the 5 p.m. hour — when the briefing started — with 654,000 in the demo and 2.19 million overall. MSNBC placed third for the briefing — it has not been the network of choice for these pressers — drawing 262,000 in the demo and 1.66 million overall in the 6 p.m. hour.
CNN’s Chris Cuomo, who hosted the entirety of Cuomo Prime Time on Tuesday night, while battling the coronavirus, drew the biggest numbers for the network. Overall, 2.91 million viewers tuned in to watch the CNN host speak to Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Joe Biden throughout the 9 p.m. show — with 872,000 of those viewers falling in the demo.
Rachel Maddow continued to be the draw at MSNBC. Her 9 p.m. show drew 598,000 in the demo and 3.31 million in total viewers.
In prime time overall, Fox News averaged 4.4 million in total viewers and 937,000 in the demo, CNN averaged 2.33 million total and 723,000 in the demo, and MSNBC averaged 2.5 million in total viewers and 451,000 in the demo.
