For the 8th month in a row, Sean Hannity had the most-watched show on cable news. Hannity was also No. 1 in November among adults 25-54, although there’s some controversy about that for the second consecutive month.
In its press release, MSNBC claims that Rachel Maddow had the No. 1 show of the month in the A25-54 demo, and has the Nielsen data to prove it.
We’ll let the networks argue amongst themselves about that.
According to live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen, Fox News had six of the top 10 cable news shows of the month among total viewers (and 4 of the top 5), while MSNBC had the other 4, led by Maddow.
MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace made her first appearance in the cable news monthly top 10. In Nov. 2019, Deadline: White House averaged nearly 2 million viewers in the 4 p.m. hour, a record-high for the show.
Cuomo Prime Time hosted by Chris Cuomo was once again CNN’s top show in total viewers (No. 23 overall), while Erin Burnett Outfront was CNN’s No. 1 show for November among adults 25-54 (No. 11 overall).
Among Total Viewers / # of telecasts / vs. Nov. 2018
- Hannity ( 3,585,000 / 17 telecasts / +18%)
- Tucker Carlson Tonight ( 3,413,000 / 19 telecasts/ +21%)
- The Rachel Maddow Show (3,175,000 / 19 telecasts / +9%)
- The Five (3,011,000 / 20 telecasts / +13%)
- The Ingraham Angle (2,827,000 / 18 telecasts / +10%)
- Special Report with Bret Baier (2,608,000 / 20 telecasts / +9%)
- The Story with Martha MacCallum ( 2,307,000 / 20 telecasts / +9%)
- The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell (2,266,000 / 19 telecasts / +3%)
- Deadline: White House with Nicolle Wallace (1,994,000 / 19 telecasts / +28%)
- All In with Chris Hayes (1,984,000 / 19 telecasts / +7%)
Each of the top 10 cable news shows were up year-over-year in average total viewers, not something one has been able to say with any regularity in 2019. The shows were undoubtedly lifted this month due to wall-to-wall coverage of the Trump impeachment hearings.
Among Adults 25-54 / # of telecasts / vs. Nov. 2018
- Hannity (552,000 / 17 telecasts / -3% )
- Tucker Carlson Tonight (551, 000 / 19 telecasts / +2% )
- The Rachel Maddow Show (540,000 / 19 telecasts / +3%)
- The Five (454,000 / 20 telecasts / -3% )
- The Ingraham Angle (437,000 / 18 telecasts / -12%)
- Special Report with Bret Baier (418,000 / 20 telecasts / -4% )
- The Story with Martha MacCallum (376,000/ 20 telecasts / -10%)
- Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell (356,000/ 19 telecasts / -4%)
- All In with Chris Hayes (326,000 / 19 telecasts / +7%)
- The 11th Hour with Brian Williams (304,000 / 20 telecasts / +8%)
Only 4 of the top 10 cable news shows of the month in the A25-54 posted year-over-year growth in the category: Tucker Carlson Tonight, TRMS, All In, and The 11th Hour with Brian Williams, the latter of which made a rare appearance in the cable news top 10 among adults 25-54.
Here’s how the cable news morning shows performed in November:
Total Viewers / A25-54
- Fox & Friends : 1,658,000 / 299,000
- Morning Joe: 1,238,000 / 206,000
- New Day: 566,000 / 138,000
Lastly, the full cable news program rankers for November. The rankings exclude breaking news and specials, and only include original programming.