The third quarter of 2013 featured a slew of big news stories, but entertainment and sports channels largely toppled the cable news competition.
As we reported yesterday, Fox News was the top cable news channel for the quarter, placing seventh overall among ad-supported cable networks in primetime and total day, and averaging 1.61 million viewers in primetime and 1.02 million viewers in total day. MSNBC was 31st in primetime (568K viewers) and 32nd in total day (334K total viewers). CNN was 34th in primetime (542K total viewers)and 29th in total day (368K total viewers).
Among other channels: HLN was 40th in primetime and 36th in total day, while Al Jazeera America placed dead last among all the cable channels rated by Nielsen. That said, AJAM launched in August, so the numbers are a combination of the final months of Current TV, and the launch of AJAM.
CNBC was the top business channel, placing 64th in primetime and 66th in total day, while Fox Business was 90th in primetime and 85th in total day. Bloomberg TV is not rated by Nielsen.
The grid, below.