With all eyes tuned into the cable news outlets watching the Chilean miner drama, more viewers were watching the actual first rescue on CNN, while Fox News dominated the balance of the evening with total viewers.
Cable news ratings, October 12, 2010:
• CNN’s ratings spike for the Chilean miner rescue story was very noticeable last night. While Fox News still won during prime time, where Shepard Smith contributed throughout the night, CNN was the top cable news network in total viewers and the demo during the 11pmET hour when the first rescue took place. From 8pmET-2amET the win was a split: FNC won total and CNN won in the demo. Here are some more details:
With politics out of the picture, MSNBC fell far behind (even though they stayed with live coverage of the miner rescue as well). It was basically a typical night for MSNBC, as well as much of FNC prime time. Fox News got a boost at 11pmET and beyond, but the second hour anchored by Greta Van Susteren saw CNN take the lead – and saw the biggest improvement by far. Let’s see if that keeps up tonight: the network airs the Delaware Senate debate from 7:30-8:30pmET followed by a live Parker Spitzer for a half hour.
Here’s the full scoreboard:
| TV NEWS RATINGS: 25-54 DEMOGRAPHIC (L +SD) | ||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
| 5 pm | Beck
412 |
Blitzer
182 |
Matthews
100 |
Showbiz
57 |
| 6 pm | Baier
400 |
Blitzer
221 |
Ed Show
113 |
Prime
90 |
| 7 pm | Shep
529 |
King, USA
235 |
Matthews
180 |
Issues
189 |
| 8 pm | O’Reilly
804 |
Cooper
314 |
Olbermann
230 |
Grace
229 |
| 9 pm | Hannity
617 |
King
349 |
Maddow
269 |
Behar
205 |
| 10 pm | Greta
787 |
Cooper
991 |
O’Donnell
252 |
Grace
193 |
| 11 pm | Miner
1046 |
Cooper
1422 |
Coverage
279 |
Showbiz
177 |
| TOTAL DAY | 386 | 281 | 135 | 139 |
| PRIME TIME | 736 | 551 | 250 | 206 |
| Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data. | ||||
| TV NEWS RATINGS: TOTAL VIEWERS (L +SD) | ||||
|
|
|
|
|
| 5 pm | Beck
1801 |
Blitzer
726 |
Matthews
543 |
Showbiz
163 |
| 6 pm | Baier
2038 |
Blitzer
923 |
Ed Show
610 |
Prime
263 |
| 7 pm | Shep
2259 |
King, USA
853 |
Matthews
651 |
Issues
472 |
| 8 pm | O’Reilly
3492 |
Cooper
1506 |
Olbermann
1019 |
Grace
694 |
| 9 pm | Hannity
2997 |
King
1380 |
Maddow
1052 |
Behar
457 |
| 10 pm | Greta
3179 |
Cooper
2955 |
O’Donnell
976 |
Grace
385 |
| 11 pm | Miner
3468 |
Cooper
3998 |
Coverage
1083 |
Showbiz
291 |
| TOTAL DAY | 1515 | 917 | 485 | 280 |
| PRIME TIME | 3222 | 1947 | 1016 | 502 |
| Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data | ||||
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