ABC Finishes No. 1 in the Eclipse Ratings Race

By A.J. Katz 

Nearly 26 million viewers (25.6 million) across 10 broadcast and cable networks tuned into TV coverage of Monday’s “Great American Eclipse.”

Eight of those networks were from the news genre. Discovery and Science covered the eclipse as well.

ABC News’s coverage of the eclipse attracted 7.9 million total viewers from 1 – 3 p.m. ET. That’s more than any other network. Additionally, ABC’s eclipse coverage ranked No. 1 in 21 of the top 25 local markets.

Advertisement

Elsewhere on the broadcast side – CBS took second place in all key categories, followed by NBC, Univision, and Telemundo. The aforementioned Univision finished ahead of NBC in the A25-54 demo.

On the cable news side – Fox News was No. 1 in total viewers, followed by CNN, The Weather Channel, and HLN.

CNN was No. 1 across cable news in the key A25-54 demo.

World News Tonight anchor David Muir led ABC News’s coverage of the eclipse from Charleston, SC, while CBS Evening News anchor Anthony Mason was stationed in Carbondale, Illinois, considered the “crossroads” of the eclipse’s path. NBC (Lester Holt), CNN (Wolf Blitzer) and Fox News (Shepard Smith) decided not to station their respective news anchors on the ground, which seemed to suit Smith in particular just fine.

Here are the common coverage numbers for Monday’s eclipse:

  • 1 – 3 p.m. ET | Total Viewers / Adults 25-54

ABC: 7,900,000 / 2,079,000

CBS: 5,963,000 / 1,567,000

NBC: 2,586,000 / 778,000

Fox News (Shepard Smith Reporting): 2,126,000 / 468,000

Univision: 1,780,000 / 824,000

CNN (Wolf/CNN Newsroom): 1,704,000 / 567,000

The Weather Channel: 1,676,000 / 459,000

Telemundo: 574,000 / 247,000

HLN (On the Story With Erica Hill): 146,000 / 53,000

 

Advertisement