Cable Network Ranker: August 2012

By Alex Weprin 

The 2012 Olympics made its mark in the ratings in August. As we noted , all of the cable news channels except for MSNBC were down in total and demo viewers, almost across the board.

As usual, Fox News was the top cable news channel for the month, placing third among all ad-supported cable networks in primetime, behind only perennial leaders USA and TNT. FNC was fourth in total day behind kids networks Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim. FNC drew 1.82 million viewers in primetime, and 1.08 million in total day.

MSNBC was 21st in primetime and 24th in total day, averaging 811,000 and 485,000. In primetime it was sandwiched between Spike TV and Nick at Nite. CNN was 36th in primetime and 34th in total day, averaging 425,000 and 326,000 viewers, respectively. It placed just ahead of Travel Channel, and just below Nat Geo Channel.

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HLN was 41st in primetime and 42nd in total day, averaging 310,000 and 238,000 viewers, respectively. Current TV was 93rd in primetime and total day, drawing 31,000 and 23,000 viewers, respectively.

Among the business nets, CNBC was 53rd in primetime and 56th in total day, averaging 196,000 and 146,000 viewers. Fox Business was 86th in primetime and 84th in total day, averaging 59,000 and 49,000 viewers, respectively. Bloomberg TV hasn’t been rated by Nielsen since it launched in 1994.

The full ranker is below.

Aug’12 All Cable Ranker

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