Fox News was the number one cable news network in all categories in January, and posted big numbers during coverage of the Massachusetts Senate election, the State of the Union, and the earthquake in Haiti. This was the best January in the network’s history and continued the channel’s dominance over its competitors.
FNC was up double digits compared to January of ’09, the only network to post any year-to-year gains. Here are the averages:
Total day (Mon-Sun): 1.325M total viewers / 367k A25-54
Prime (Mon-Sun): 2.413M total viewers / 637k A25-54
Year-to-year, FNC’s total day is up +16% in total viewers (+28% demo) and its primetime is up +22% in total viewers (51% demo).
For primetime, Fox was the #3 network in basic cable (behind USA and ESPN) and bested CNN, MSNBC, and HLN combined in both total viewers and the demo.
“The O’Reilly Factor” continues as the number one cable news program averaging 3.8 million total viewers and 983k in the demo, which are gains of 23% and 58% year-over-year. Sean Hannity had his best month since going solo on his show.
Some of FNC’s highest-rated programs saw large growth, especially in the demo, compared to last January. “Hannity” is up +21% in total viewers (+50% demo), “On the Record” is up +40% (+74%) and “Glenn Beck” is up +90% (+121%) compared to last January. “The FOX Report” and “Special Report” marked 100 consecutive months as the top programs in their time slots. “Your World” had its best month since 2005.
FNC programs again filled the top 13 slots among cable news programs in total viewers, but they also swept the top 13 in the demo, the first time that’s happened in five years.