Preliminary ratings from Nielsen for Saturday night show massive cable news viewership as the verdict came in the George Zimmerman trial.
All told, more than 10 million people watched the four cable news channels as the verdict came in, with likely millions more watching on broadcast.
From 10 PM-11 AM, when the verdict came in, Fox News led the way in total viewers, while CNN was tops in the adults 25-54 demo. HLN placed third in both categories, followed by MSNBC. That was also the case for the 10 PM-1 AM average, which is when all the cable channels dedicated their live coverage to covering the verdict and the analysis that followed.
The numbers for all the channels are many times higher than the typical cable news viewership for a Saturday night.
The preliminary numbers are below, the finals will be available tomorrow:
10-11PM ET
Fox News: 3,682,000 total viewers / 1,113,000 A25-54
CNN: 3,407,000 total viewers / 1,716,000 A25-54
HLN: 2,203,000 total viewers / 980,000 A25-54
MSNBC: 1,298,000 total viewers / 510,000 A25-54
10PM- 1AM
Fox News: 2,712,000 total viewers / 896,000 A25-54
CNN: 2,418,000 total viewers / 1,241,000 A25-54
HLN: 1,435,000 total viewers / 690,000 A25-54
MSNBC: 929,000 total viewers / 404,000 A25-54