It was a relatively quiet week for cable news as far as ratings go. Americans seemed a bit more intent on watching sports and holiday movies during Thanksgiving week, than 24/7 TV news.
Fox News Channel slipped to No. 3 across cable in total viewers this past week (1.6 million) behind ESPN (4.4 million) and a surging Hallmark Channel (2.6 million).
Nevertheless, the basic cable juggernaut remained ahead of MSNBC and CNN in total viewers and the relevant A25-54 demographic, and Hannity continued his streak as host of the No. 1 program on cable news, in both total viewers (2.5 million) and in A25-54 viewers (443,000), according to live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen.
MSNBC ranked No. 4 in prime time viewers (1.2 million) and No. 5 in total day viewers (804,000), while CNN dropped down to No. 18 in prime time (696,000) and No. 9 in total day (572,000). One week after coming up short to CNN in the prime time demo, MSNBC edged its rival when it came to drawing adults 25-54 in that key 8 – 11 p.m. time period (314,000 vs. 312,000).
Not often do we see Food Network make the weekly basic cable top 10 (No. 8 in total day viewing). Perhaps folks were looking for a little Thanksgiving Day inspiration?
Here are the basic cable top 10 for the week of Nov. 19, 2018:
PRIME TIME (Total Viewers)
- ESPN (4,424,000)
- Hallmark Channel (2,616,000)
- Fox News (1,577,000)
- MSNBC (1,208,000)
- USA (1,098,000)
- Hallmark Movies & Mysteries (1,088,000)
- HGTV (1,060,000)
- A&E (1,048,000)
- TBS (1,040,000)
- History (975,000)
6 A.M. – 6 A.M. (Total Viewers)
- Hallmark Channel (1,419,000)
- ESPN (1,358,000)
- Fox News (1,130,000)
- Nickelodeon (853,000)
- MSNBC (804,000)
- Investigation Discovery (726,000)
- HGTV (679,000)
- Food Network (581,000)
- CNN (572,000)
- Hallmark Movies & Mysteries (571,000)