After CNN’s back-to-back ratings wins Monday and Tuesday, Fox News Channel returned to its familiar perch atop the cable news ratings scoreboard. FNC drew the most total viewers and A25-54 demo viewers in both total day and primetime Wednesday. While FNC was up in both dayparts, CNN and MSNBC were both down from Monday and Tuesday.
The host of the channel’s No. 1 show was also back in his chair. Bill O’Reilly cut his vacation short to return to host last night’s “O’Reilly Factor” much of which was devoted to Ferguson, including a Talking Points Memo targeting “charlatan” Al Sharpton and a fiery debate with Bob Beckel and James Carville. And it paid off. O’Reilly had his best numbers since since last Monday, which included breaking news coverage of the death of Robin Williams.
Other Wednesday highlights include a new demo high for daytime show “Outnumbered,” and a new 2014 total viewer high for “Real Story with Gretchen Carlson.”
CNN managed demo wins from 3-5pmET. Fox News took all other hours of the day.