Experian Hitwise: Fox Report with Shepard Smith, The Last Word Surge Up Cable News Chart

By David Cohen 

Unlike the week ending May 14, there was change aplenty in the Experian Hitwise list of the top three cable-news-show websites for the week ending May 21. Fox News Channel’s The O’Reilly Factor continued to top the chart, but it was followed by two new entries — network sibling Fox Report with Shepard Smith at No. 2, and MSNBC’s The Last Word in third place.

The top two late-night talk-show sites were unchanged from the previous week — Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report — and third place went to NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, which replaced fellow NBC offering Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

As usual, there were no changes in the morning-news-show rankings: NBC’s Today, ABC’s Good Morning America, and CBS’ The Early Show.

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The top three broadcast-network websites were also unchanged from the prior week: CBS, Fox, and ABC. The top two broadcast-show sites also held steady — Fox’s American Idol and ABC’s Dancing with the Stars — while CBS’ NCIS surged into third place, past network sibling Survivor. Movement in the top 25 was provided by ABC’s Castle (to No. 10 from No. 23), and CBS’ The Mentalist (23 from 53).

The top three adults-only cable-show sites held steady for the third consecutive week: Comedy’s South Park and The Daily Show, followed by MTV’s 16 & Pregnant. New entries to the top 25 were Bravo’s The Real Housewives of New Jersey (4 from 38), and The Last Word (10 from 27).

When combining broadcast and cable shows, the top three remained unchanged for the fourth week in a row: Idol, Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants, and South Park. The only new entry to the top 25 was The Real Housewives of New Jersey (23 from 107).

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