It was another good year for Fox News Channel, with the network home to the top 12 cable news programs in Total Viewers and the top 10 programs in A25-54 viewers. In both Primetime and Total Day, FNC beat all cable news competitors — CNN, MSNBC and HLN — combined in total viewers. And FNC beat CNN & MSNBC combined in A25-54 demo.
Much like its cable news competition, however, the network was still down in both total viewers and the demo compared to 2009, though it saw less of a drop than CNN and HLN, with declines only in the single digits.
- Primetime: 2.024 million total viewers/ 497,000 demo viewers
- Total Day: 1.128 million total viewers/ 299,000 demo viewers
FNC has been the #1 rated news channel for 9 years in Total Viewers — since January 2002. The network was #4 in all of cable in primetime and #6 in Total Day among Total Viewers. 2010 is FNC’s second highest-rated year among Total Viewers in Total Day since the launch in 1996.
The #1 cable news program in both Total Viewers and viewers A25-54 was “The O’Reilly Factor” — while “Hannity” was #2 in both Total Viewers and viewers A25-54. “The O’Reilly Factor,” “FOX Report with Shepard Smith,” “Studio B,” “America’s Newsroom,” “Your World,” “Hannity,” and “Happening Now” are all having their second-highest rated year in Total Viewers.
Both “Fox Report” and “Fox & Friends” have been #1 for 10 years in both Total Viewers and among A25-54 viewers. “Special Report” is having its highest-rated year ever in Total Viewers, thanks to the 2010 election coverage. The news program is also in the top five programs across cable news — unusual for a program not in primetime.