Cable Network Ranker: Q1 2013

By Alex Weprin 


The first quarter of 2013 was a big one for cable, with a slew of original series premieres and sporting events helping to drive up viewership. It was less big for the cable news channels, who were–with the notable exception of HLN–mostly down in total viewers and the core news demo, without the slew of political news to draw viewers in.

Fox News was the top cable news channel, per usual, placing sixth among ad-supported cable networks in primetime, and seventh among all networks. In total day FNC was seventh among ad-supported networks and eighth among all networks.

MSNBC ranked 24th in primetime and 28th in total day among ad-supported networks, (25th and 29th among all networks), while CNN placed 31st and 30th in prime and total day (32nd and 31st among all networks). HLN, which saw a boost from the Jodi Arias trial, placed 37th and 36th among ad-supported channels, 38th and 37th among all channels in prime and total day.

Current TV, which will become Al Jazeera America in coming months, placed dead last in both primetime and total day among all cable channels, below Nielsen’s minimum accuracy threshold.

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For the business networks: CNBC placed 52nd in primetime and 51st in total day (53rd and 52nd among all channels), while Fox Business Network placed 90th in primetime and 87th in total day (91st and 88th among all networks). Bloomberg TV hasn’t been rated by Nielsen since it launched in 1994.

The full ranker:

1Q13 All Cable P2+

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