The week of February 25-March 3 was a big one for TV, with lots of new episodes of series on both broadcast and cable channels. For TV news, the week wasn’t as memorable, though the Jodi Arias trial did lead to a rare occasion: HLN topped sister network CNN in both primetime and total day. That hasn’t happened since the Casey Anthony trial.
Fox News was the top cable news channel for the week, placing third among ad-supported cable networks and fourth among all networks in primetime, and fifth among ad-supported nets and sixth among all nets in total day. FNC averaged 1.92 million viewers in primetime and 1.16 million in total day.
MSNBC was 23rd in primetime and 26th in total day (24th and 27th among all nets), averaging 742,000 and 423,000 viewers, respectively. HLN was 34th in primetime and 31st in total day (35th and 32nd among all nets), averaging 509,000 and 371,000 viewers, respectively. CNN placed 36th in primetime and 33rd in total day (37 and 34 among all nets), averaging 488,000 and 369,000 viewers, respectively.
Current TV continues to struggle in advance of the switch to Al Jazeera, placing last among all networks in primetime, and 96th out of 97 networks in total day, below Nielsen’s minimum accuracy threshold.
For the business networks: CNBC was 60th in primetime and 50th in total day (61 and 51 among all nets), averaging 190,000 and 177,000 viewers, respectively. Fox Business Network placed 91st and 86th (92 and 87 among all nets), averaging 58,000 and 55,000 viewers, respectively. Bloomberg TV hasn’t been rated by Nielsen since it launched.
The full ranker: