The Five Sets New Cable Record In Second Quarter of 2022 – MSNBC Rebounds in June

Fox News continued its dominance of cable television in the second quarter of 2022. The network ended the quarter this month as the most-watched network on cable and extended its winning streak over its cable news competition to a whopping 82 consecutive quarters.

While Fox News maintained in first place on cable, MSNBC came in second overall – one spot up from last quarter.

Fox’s highest-rated show, The Five, made history as the first non-prime time program to win three consecutive quarters as the number one show on cable.

The 5 p.m. panel program edged out Tucker Carlson Tonight for the top spot in terms of overall viewers, despite Carlson topping The Five in the demo.

For the quarter, Fox News also scored 96 of the top 100 most-watched telecasts.

Sean Hannity, Jesse Watters, and Bret Baier rounded out the top five most-watched shows on cable – securing the 3rd, 4th and 5th places in the ratings.

CNN landed in sixth place overall on cable, down a spot from its top-five finish last quarter.

Fox’s total average viewership for the quarter was up 21 percent to 1.45 million viewers. MSNBC, despite a strong June, was down 20 percent for the quarter, landing at 684,000 total viewers.

CNN was down 21 percent for the quarter, down to 521,000 total viewers as the boost the network saw from breaking news in the first quarter largely evaporated.

In the key 25-54 age demographic, Fox was up 11 percent, while CNN dropped by 31 percent and MSNBC went down by 34 percent.

MSNBC saw its demo rating plummet at the beginning of the quarter and ended May with its lowest daytime demo average since November 1999 and its lowest prime time average since May 2004.

In June, however, MSNBC saw a traffic boost from the January 6th hearings and saw its demo audience rebound from the May lows.

MSNBC dominate the ratings during the hearings, topping its competition during each one and drawing over 3 million viewers per hearing – a major boost for the network which averaged 1.13 million prime time viewers in the quarter.

Nielsen MRI Fusion Research released new demographic data for cable news audiences in April, broken down by political affiliation.

The Five not only topped the charts with Independents but also pulled in the largest audience of Democrats on all of cable news. According to Nielsen MRI, an average of 801,000 Democrats watched The Five in April, just edging out The Rachel Maddow Show, which brought in 788,000 viewers who identify as Democrats.

Carlson, Hannity, and Jesse Watters had the 3rd, 4th, and 5th most-watched shows by Democrats – with Lawrence O’Donnell bringing in the 6th most Democrats.

Carlson and The Five led with Republicans, bringing in 1.39 million and 1.29 million GOP-affiliation viewers – respectively.

Among the three networks, Fox News raked in the largest percentage of Democrats watching cable news overall with 39 percent. 37 percent watched MSNBC and 24 percent watched CNN.

In the demo, 42 percent of Democrats watched Fox, while 35 percent watched CNN and 24 percent watched MSNBC.

Among Republican viewers, 67 percent watched Fox News while 19 percent watched MSNBC and 15 percent viewed CNN.

Here are the total day averages in total viewers and the 25-54 category for the second quarter of 2022.

Total viewers:

CNN: 521,000

Fox 1.45 million

MSNBC: 684,000

25-54 Demo:

CNN: 113,000

Fox News: 229,000

MSNBC: 77,000

Here are the prime time averages — encompassing shows which air from 8-11 p.m. — for the second quarter of 2022.

Total viewers:

CNN: 670,000

Fox News: 2.27 million

MSNBC: 1.13 million

25-54 Demo:

CNN: 155,000

Fox News: 345,000

MSNBC: 121,000

 

Here are the total day averages in total viewers and the 25-54 category during the month of June.

Total viewers:

CNN: 486,000

Fox 1.38 million

MSNBC: 765,000

25-54 Demo:

CNN: 103,000

Fox News: 211,000

MSNBC: 86,000

Here are the prime time averages — encompassing shows which air from 8-11 p.m. —during the month of June.

Total viewers:

CNN: 654,000

Fox News: 2.17 million

MSNBC: 1.28 million

25-54 Demo:

CNN: 147,000

Fox News: 319,000

MSNBC: 136,000