For the seventh month in a row, Sean Hannity had the most-watched show on cable news. Hannity was also No. 1 in October 2019 among adults 25-54, although MSNBC claims that Rachel Maddow had the No. 1 show of the month in the demo.
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, while MSNBC had the other four, led by Maddow, per usual.
Cuomo Prime Time, hosted by Chris Cuomo, was once again CNN’s top show. Not only that, but it snared a spot in the cable news top 10 among adults 25-54. It came in at No. 23, however, in average total audience.
Fox News and MSNBC had the top 22 shows in total viewers. FNC had 14, while MSNBC had eight. But four of those eight were among the top 10.
Among Total Viewers (October 2019):
- Hannity (3,535,000 / 17 telecasts)
- Tucker Carlson Tonight (3,230,000 / 18 telecasts)
- The Rachel Maddow Show (3,137,000 / 19 telecasts)
- The Ingraham Angle (2,838,000 / 18 telecasts)
- The Five (2,714,000 / 20 telecasts)
- Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell (2,426,000 / 19 telecasts)
- Special Report with Bret Baier (2,347,000 / 20 telecasts)
- The Story with Martha MacCallum (2,076,000 / 20 telecasts)
- All In with Chris Hayes (1,984,000 / 19 telecasts)
- The 11th Hour with Brian Williams (1,833,000 / 20 telecasts)
As previously mentioned, Cuomo Prime Time is a top 10 cable news show for October among adults 25-54, moving past The 11th Hour in the key measurement. TRMS moves ahead of Tucker Carlson Tonight in the A25-54 top 10. Aside from that, the order is similar.
Among adults 25-54:
- Sean Hannity (564,000 / 17 telecasts)
- Rachel Maddow (550,000 / 19 telecasts)
- Tucker Carlson (521,000 / 18 telecasts)
- Laura Ingraham (455,000 / 18 telecasts)
- The Five (424,000 / 20 telecasts)
- Lawrence O’Donnell (385,000 / 19 telecasts)
- Bret Baier (371,000 / 20 telecasts)
- Martha MacCallum (344,000 / 20 telecasts)
- Chris Hayes (336,000 / 19 telecasts)
- Chris Cuomo (320,000 / 13 telecasts)
October was scary good for Morning Joe. The long-running MSNBC morning show had its most-watched month in its history, averaging 1.24 million total viewers during the 6 – 9 a.m. time period.
As great as October 2019 was for MJ, Fox & Friends still finished No. 1 among the cable news morning shows for the 216th consecutive month (yes, 216). October also happened to be the top month of the year for F&F.
Total Viewers / A25-54
- Fox & Friends : 1,549,000 / 285,000
- Morning Joe: 1,239,000 / 209,000
- New Day: 579,000 / 143,000
Here’s the full cable news program ranker for October. The rankings exclude breaking news and specials, and only includes original programming.