Fox News continues to haul in the most viewers of any basic cable network.
For the week of July 15, FNC averaged 1.4 million viewers across 6 a.m. – 6 a.m., running its streak to 28 consecutive weeks as the most-watched basic cable network in that daypart. Fox News also averaged 2.55 million viewers in prime time, running its streak to nine consecutive weeks as basic cable’s most-watched network in prime time.
Fox News had its fourth-best week of the year in prime time viewership, lifted by the network’s highly-rated coverage of President Trump’s North Carolina rally in prime time.
FNC also managed to rank among basic cable’s top five in the 25-54 demo for both total day and prime time, and presentations of Hannity, Tucker Carlson Tonight, The Ingraham Angle, The Story with Martha MacCallum, and The Five made up 17 of the top 25 telecasts in total viewers.
Additionally, Greg Gutfeld had his top-rated Saturday night broadcast of the year among adults 25-54 (340,000 viewers).
CNN was the No.11-ranked basic cable network in prime time this past week, moving up one slot from the previous week. The network ranked in the top 10 across total day (No.7). MSNBC maintained its firm grip on the No. 2 ranking in total viewers, only behind Fox News among all basic cable networks.
When compared with the same week in 2018, Fox News was +4% in total prime time viewers. MSNBC, on the other hand, was -15% in total prime time viewers, and CNN was -21%. In total day, Fox was +1%, MSNBC was -16% and CNN was -25%.
Among adults 25-54, which is the demo advertisers of TV news traditionally focus their spend on, Fox was -11% in prime time, MSNBC was -33%, and CNN was -38%. In total day, Fox was -11%, MSNBC was -37% and CNN was -42% vs. last year.
Cable News Week of July 15 (Total Viewers)
Fox News: Prime Time (2,550,000) and Total Day (1,385,000)
MSNBC: Prime Time (1,657,000) and Total Day (921,000)
CNN: Prime Time (873,000) and Total Day (575,000)
Cable News Week of July 15 (Adults 25-54)
Fox News: Prime Time (414,000) and Total Day (244,000)
MSNBC: Prime Time (254,000) and Total Day (134,000)
CNN: Prime Time (226,000) and Total Day (136,000)
According to Nielsen live-plus-same-day data, here are the 10 most-watched basic cable networks for the week in total day and prime time:
PRIME TIME
- Fox News Channel (2,550,000)
- MSNBC (1,657,000)
- HGTV (1,278,000)
- Hallmark Channel (1,198,000)
- TBS (1,105,000)
- TLC (1,091,000)
- USA (1,043,000)
- History (976,000)
- A&E (944,000)
- Investigation Discovery (934,000)
TOTAL DAY:
- Fox News (1,385,000)
- MSNBC (921,000)
- Nickelodeon (751,000)
- Hallmark (708,000)
- ID (695,000)
- HGTV (680,000)
- CNN (575,000)
- History (518,000)
- Food Network (512,000)
- USA (505,000)