From 10am-3pmET Monday, when the Sonia Sotomayor confirmation hearings were ongoing, Fox News was the most-watched network for coverage. FNC even beat CNN and MSNBC combined, in younger viewers during that time period.
10-3pmET A25-54 / Total Viewers
FNC 153K / 788K
CNN 104K / 576K
MSNBC 47K / 366K
But interestingly, those daytime averages are down for Fox News and for CNN and down for MSNBC in younger viewers. Only MSNBC saw an increase in Total Viewers. For comparison, we looked at the 10am-3pm averages last Wednesday and Thursday (Tuesday was the Jackson funeral which is not a fair comparison.) Here’s what we found:
• 10-3pmET 7/8/09 — A25-54 / Total Viewers
FNC 254K / 1.197M
CNN 221K / 783K
MSNBC 65K / 244K
• 10-3pmET 7/9/09 — A25-54 / Total Viewers
FNC 314K / 1.246M
CNN 180K / 726K
MSNBC 68K / 250K
A lot of factors can affect the numbers — more people may be on vacation this week, there may have been spot news that drove up the averages… or it could just be that people aren’t that interested in watching a Senate confirmation hearing on TV.