Though none of the cable news networks — save C-SPAN — provided full coverage of Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally in Washington on Saturday, CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC did provide some coverage to varying degrees. Here’s a look at the data we have:
During the 10am-1pmET block, Fox, which was in business programming from 10am-12pm, had the largest viewership. CNN, which perhaps had the most coverage of the rally, saw the largest increase of the three networks compared to the same time-slot last Saturday. (Since C-SPAN, which carried the rally live in full, is not a commercial television network, it is not rated by Nielsen. So despite the fact that Beck said last night that he “can’t wait to see the numbers” for C-SPAN, we, unfortunately, won’t be getting any.)
Sarah Palin spoke in the 10amET hour and was carried live on CNN. Check out our liveblog of the coverage and the rally, which ended at 1:18pmET. More on Saturday’s numbers here.
| Fox News | CNN | MSNBC | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10am-1pm | 1.08M/279k | 729k/212k | 283k/83k |
| 10am | 1.06M/290k | 632k/216k | 295k/74k |
| 11am | 1.06M/278k | 737k/230k | 300k/72k |
| 12pm | 1.13M/270k | 818k/189k | 255k/103k |
| 1pm | 985k/167k | 595k/148k | 250k/124k |
Related: PoliticsDaily’s Matt Lewis wonders if Beck deserves a primetime slot, beyond the one-day gig he might already be owed.