CNN’s non-stop, all-in coverage of the Ferguson story paid off in a major way Monday night when the network saw huge ratings in both the 25-54 demo and total viewers as the grand jury decision was announced and protests ensued throughout the night. Fox News continued its dominance in total viewership.
Overall in primetime, CNN came out nearly a million demo viewers ahead of Fox News, averaging 2.627M compared to the perennial leader’s 1.653M. The peak for CNN came not at 9 p.m. when the decision was announced, but instead during the second half of the 10 p.m. hour when the network reached 3.558M demo viewers.
In total viewers, Fox News averaged 5.563M in primetime compared to 5.079M for CNN. With 7.256M viewers during the 9 p.m. hour, Fox’s The Kelly File was the overall winner for the night. While MSNBC did see a surge of viewers at 9 p.m., topping 2 million total, the network remained far behind both Fox and CNN.
Here are the rest of your Monday ratings:
| TV NEWS RATINGS: 25-54 DEMOGRAPHIC (L +SD) | ||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
| 5 pm | The Five
473 |
Blitzer
580 |
Schultz
131 |
WWYD
30 |
| 6 pm | Baier
583 |
Blitzer
762 |
Sharpton
191 |
Files
73 |
| 7 pm | Van Susteren
580 |
Burnett
899 |
Matthews
193 |
Grace
138 |
| 8 pm | O’Reilly
817 |
Cooper
1.205 |
Hayes
236 |
Grace
209 |
| 9 pm | Kelly
2.186 |
Cooper
3.155 |
Maddow
742 |
Grace/Drew
299/367 |
| 10 pm | Kelly/Hannity
2.319/1.787 |
Cooper/Tonight
3.316/3.558 |
O’Donnell
654 |
Dr. Drew
264 |
| 11 pm | Smith
1.589 |
Tonight
3.121 |
Hayes
385 |
Files
143 |
| PRIME TIME | 1.653 | 2.627 | 544 | 274 |
| Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data. | ||||
| TV NEWS RATINGS: TOTAL VIEWERS (L +SD) | ||||
|
|
|
|
|
| 5 pm | The Five
2.930 |
Blitzer
1.696 |
Schultz
614 |
WWYD
70 |
| 6 pm | Baier
3.105 |
Blitzer
2.020 |
Sharpton
784 |
Files
171 |
| 7 pm | Van Susteren
2.717 |
Burnett
1.979 |
Matthews
829 |
Grace
275 |
| 8 pm | O’Reilly
3.694 |
Cooper
2.636 |
Hayes
917 |
Grace
497 |
| 9 pm | Kelly
7.256 |
Cooper
6.265 |
Maddow
2.197 |
Grace/Drew
648/727 |
| 10 pm | Kelly/Hannity
7.235/5.043 |
Cooper
6.171 |
O’Donnell
1.751 |
Dr. Drew
533 |
| 11 pm | Smith
3.975 |
Tonight
5.410 |
Hayes
1.116 |
Files
381 |
| PRIME TIME | 5.563 | 5.079 | 1.622 | 579 |
| Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data | ||||
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