Fox News just accomplished another ratings record.
For the first time ever, the network led basic cable in both prime time and total day for the entire first quarter of 2016. The coverage of campaign 2016 also continues to put up big ratings for CNN. For the month of March, the network finished as the third most-watched in prime time and fifth in total day. MSNBC was 12th in prime time and 15th in total day.
This was FNC’s highest-rated quarter in total day in its nearly 20-year history averaging 1.35 million in total viewers (up +27 percent from Q1 2015) and 271,000 in A25-54 (up +30 percent from Q1 2015). This was CNN’s most-watched in 7 years. But it wasn’t just politics giving a boost to the cablers: in March, FNC’s afternoon show Shepard Smith Reporting, which gave heavy coverage to the attacks in Brussels, had its highest-rated month in both total viewers and the demo since the launch of the news deck in October 2013.