Trump Press Conference Boosts Fox’s Special Report to Huge Ratings Win on Wednesday, Helping Network Sweep Total Day, Primetime Dayparts
Trump’s daily White House press conference helped boost Fox News’ Special Report with Bret Baier to a huge ratings win, making it the most-watched program outside of primetime on Wednesday in the coveted 25 – 54 age demographic.
According to Nielsen Media Research, Special Report climbed to 665,000 viewers in the demo, and amassed 3.64 million viewers overall. The demo ratings ranked third among all cable news shows on Thursday, falling only behind Fox’s top-ranked Tucker Carlson Tonight (779,000) and second-place Hannity (726,000). Special Report‘s numbers far outpaced CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer (482,000; 1.81 million) and MSNBC’s The Beat with Ari Melber (319,000; 2.10 million).
In total day ratings, Fox reigned with 387,000 A25 – 54 viewers and 2.11 million overall, thanks to the strong performance of Special Report and its lead-in, The Five, which easily won its time-slot with 578,000 and 3.36 million viewers, respectively. CNN came in just behind Fox with 320,000 viewers in the demo, while MSNBC trailed behind with 288,000. In total viewers, MSNBC pulled in second with 1.84 million and CNN came in third with 1.24 million.
Fox also easily won primetime, with the aforementioned Carlson leading the day in cable news and ranking second in all of TV. Coming in third in primetime behind Hannity was MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, which scored an impressive 630,000 viewers in the demo (3.63 million overall), thanks to big-name Democratic guests like Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former National Security Advisor Susan Rice, brought on to discuss the selection of Sen. Kamala Harris to be Joe Biden’s vice presidential running mate. Fox’s The Ingraham Angle came in fourth in primetime with 517,000 A25 – 54 viewers and 3.01 million overall.
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