Cable Network Ranker: FNC Tops Cable, CNN Jumps To 3rd Following Boston Bombing

By Alex Weprin 


The bombing in Boston and the explosion in Texas dominated cable news last week, and the cable news channels saw ratings surges as a result. Fox News was the number one cable channel in both primetime and total day, the first time that happened since last year’s Presidential election, and the first time it happened in a non-election week since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. CNN meanwhile rose to 3rd among ad-supported cable channels (4th among all cable channels), its best placement in years.

Fox News averaged 2.87 million viewers in primetime and 1.77 million viewers in total day, placing 1st in both categories. USA Network placed 2nd in primetime with 2.62 million viewers, while Nickelodeon was 2nd in total day with 1.64 million. CNN placed 3rd among ad-supported networks, averaging 1.99 million viewers in primetime and 1.33 million in total day. Disney Channel, which does not count as ad-supported by Nielsen, placed 3rd among all cable channels.

MSNBC placed 19th in primetime and 16th in total day, averaging 923,000 and 578,000 viewers, respectively. HLN was 31st in prime and 28th in total day.

For the business networks, the bombing coverage didn’t really change the ratings equation. CNBC was 50th in prime and 48th in total day, while Fox Business was 89th in prime and 87th in total day. Bloomberg TV, of course, isn’t rated by Nielsen.

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The full ranker:

All Cable Rank P2+ Week of 4-15-13

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