Cablers Sees Viewership Jump During Syria Strikes

By Chris Ariens 

The cable networks saw viewership spike as news broke of the U.S. missile strikes on a Syrian air base Thursday night.

The news networks, both cable and broadcast, confirmed the strikes between 9:11 – 9:18 p.m. ET.

Fox News saw its viewership spike as Shepard Smith began anchoring at 9:17 p.m. FNC averaged 4.55 million total viewers and 1.17 million in the A25-54 demo during that period, until 10:11 p.m., when Sean Hannity picked up coverage, and increased viewership, averaging 4.87 million total viewers and 1.344 million in the demo.

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Fox News was No. 1 for the night. MSNBC was No. 2 in viewers while CNN was No. 2 in the demo.

  • Prime time (8-11 p.m.) | Total Viewers / A25-54
    Fox News – 4.252M / 1.013M
    MSNBC – 2.471M / 623,000
    CNN – 2.305M / 966,000

CNN had the most-watched hour overall in the demo, during Anderson Cooper‘s 10 p.m. ET hour, which averaged 1.54 million viewers. Here’s the hour-by-hour breakdown in the Scoreboard.

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