Broadcast, cable and digital news outlets provided extensive coverage of former FBI director James Comey‘s testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee in regard to an investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. election. (TVNewser)
Across the six big networks airing live coverage—ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News and MSNBC—the testimony pulled in around 18 million viewers. Add Univision, Fox Business News and CNBC, and the total climbs to 19.4 million viewers. (THR)
The hearing drew a 14.1 household rating, 1.3 million viewers ages 18-34, 4.3 million viewers 35-54, and 13.3 million viewers 55 and up. Across the three major cable-news networks, the hearing drew nearly 9 million viewers. During special coverage of Comey’s testimony from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. ET, Fox News finished first in total viewers with 3.1 million but was third in the key adults 25-54 demographic with 600,000 viewers. CNN was a close second in total viewers with 3.05 million viewers but finished first handily in the demo with 1.02 million. MSNBC was third in viewers 2.72 million but second in the demo with 630,000. (Variety)
ABC clocked 3.295 million viewers. CBS was right behind with an average of 3.286 million viewers, and NBC News trailed with 2.723 million viewers, which also means it finished behind Fox News and CNN. NBC News notes that its cumulative broadcast and cable crowd (with MSNBC) put it well ahead of other news operations. In the 25-54 age bracket, NBC led broadcast nets with 859,000 viewers, followed by ABC’s 854,000 and CBS’ 784,000. (Deadline)
While the testimony, which Twitter streamed live thanks to a partnership with Bloomberg, generated a lot of tweets, the audience for its livestream averaged 129,000 people at any given time. That’s around half the audience Twitter got when it streamed the NFL’s Thursday Night Football in the fall. (Recode)