Nearly four million people tuned into one of the cable news networks during the 8pmET hour Tuesday night as news broke that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor had been defeated in his Virginia primary race.
As usual, Fox News led the way in both ratings metrics, averaging 2,794,000 total viewers and 485,000 A25-54 viewers in the 8pm hour. (FNC broke out its coverage from 8:14 to 9pm, averaging 2,784,000 and 497,000, respectively, during that time period.) MSNBC was second with 659,000 total viewers and 141,000 demo viewers and CNN was third with 424,000 and 117,000 viewers, respectively.
From the 8pm to the 9pm hour, Fox News lost both total viewers and demo viewers, while MSNBC gained viewers across the board. CNN, which cut away from politics at 9pm to air an O.J. Simpson special, lost 22,000 total viewers but gained 5,000 viewers in the A25-54 demographic.
Numbers for the 8pm, 9pm and 10pmET hours are after the jump. The full scoreboard will be up shortly.
8-9PMET
FNC: 2,794,000 total viewers / 485,000 A25-54
MSNBC: 659,000 total viewers / 141,000 A25-54
CNN: 424,000 total viewers /117,000 A25-54
9-10PMET
FNC: 2,146,000 total viewers / 358,000 A25-54
MSNBC: 863,000 total viewers / 205,000 A25-54
CNN: 402,000 total viewers / 122,000 A25-54
10-11PMET
FNC: 1,483,000 total viewers / 282,00 A25-54
MSNBC: 591,00 total viewers / 130,000 A25-54
CNN: 251,000 total viewers / 98,000 A25-54