Basic Cable Ranker: Week of Sept. 10

By A.J. Katz 

Fox News Channel was No. 1 across basic cable for the weather-worn week of Sept. 10, 2018. That’s No. 1 in total viewers across the 24-hour day (36 consecutive weeks), not No. 1 in total prime time viewers.

Fox News slipped to No. 2 in prime time behind ESPN, which benefited from a duo of Monday Night Football games to kick off the 2018-2019 season.

FNC claimed 10 of the top 25 cable telecasts overall in total viewers, including presentations of Hannity, Tucker Carlson Tonight, and The Ingraham Angle.

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Moving exclusively to cable news  – In addition to winning total viewers, Fox News finished No. 1 across cable news in the the prime time demo, averaging 425,000 A25-54 viewers in the daypart. FNC was able to fend off CNN and MSNBC, both of which averaged 401,000 A25-54 viewers in prime time, according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day data. Fox News also was No. 1 in total day in the demo, with 271,000 to CNN’s 259,000 and MSNBC’s 212,000.

MSNBC had a big week in its own right. It was once again the second-most-watched network across basic cable, as shown below, and the third-most-watched in prime time.

The week of Sept. 10, 2018 was a particularly great one for The Rachel Maddow Show. In fact, it was the most-watched week in the 10-year history of the program.

TRMS was the No. 1 program across all of television on Friday, Sept. 14, even ahead of Dateline NBC. On Thursday, Maddow was No. 1 across cable news in the A25-54 demo; her’s was the most-watched cable TV show on Tuesday and Wednesday; and she began the work week ranked No. 1 on cable news across the board.

TRMS averaged 3.43 million total viewers from Monday – Friday, ahead of Hannity’s 3.17 million total average. Maddow also knocked off Hannity among adults 25-54, 667,000 vs. 580,200.

Hannity still holds the lead over Maddow in the 3rd quarter to-date, 3.23 million total viewers vs. 2.90 million total viewers. He also has an advantage over Maddow in adults 25-54, averaging 601,000 per week vs. Maddow’s 560,000 average.

The combination of Trump controversies, and Hurricane Florence coverage towards the end of the week gave cable news a strong bump in the ratings department overall.

Fox News was +18 percent in prime time and +6 percent in total day viewers compared to the same week in 2017. MSNBC was +34 percent in prime time viewers, and +33 percent in total day viewers vs. the same week last year.

CNN, which ranked in the basic cable top 10 in total viewers, was +28 percent in prime time, and +18 percent in total day viewers vs. the comparable week last year.

Can’t forget about The Weather Channel! Aided by its wall-to-wall coverage of Hurricane Florence, TWC ranked No. 8 in total prime time viewers, and No. 4 in viewers across the 24-hour day last week.

Week of Sept. 10:

Basic Cable Top 5 – Prime time (Total Viewers)

  1. ESPN (2,729,000)
  2. Fox News (2,492,000)
  3. MSNBC (2,185,000)
  4. HGTV (1,370,000)
  5. USA (1,303,000)

 

Basic Cable Top 5 – Total Day (Total Viewers)

  1. Fox News (1,435,000)
  2. MSNBC (1,117,000)
  3. ESPN (1,017,000)
  4. Weather Channel (906,000)
  5. CNN (872,000)

Basic cable ranker: Week of Sept. 10 (Total Viewers)

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