Fox News was home to the top three cable news shows for the third quarter of 2019.
For the second consecutive quarter, Sean Hannity was No.1 in the relevant measurements, including total viewers and among the coveted A25-54 demographic.
Tucker Carlson took second place, and posted impressive +11% growth in average total viewers vs. Q3 of last year.
Laura Ingraham‘s The Ingraham Angle moved past MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show and into third place.
Maddow had the top cable news show among adults 25-54 in the first quarter of 2019. She dropped to third place in Q2 of this year, and finished Q3 in fourth place across cable news.
If the impeachment inquiry continues for an extended period of time, however, don’t be shocked to see Maddow move back up the charts. But of course, that’s a big IF. For now, it’s Ingraham who owns a spot in the top three.
The Five rounds out the top five and posted +9% total viewer growth vs. Q3 2018.
As a network, Fox News had seven of the top 10 cable news programs in average total audience, and eight of the top 10 among adults 25-54.
23 of the 25-most-watched cable news shows for the quarter aired either on Fox News or MSNBC. CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time (No. 23), and Anderson Cooper 360 (No. 25) were the exceptions.
All of the top-rated cable news shows are losing younger viewers this year relative to 2018, and that happened again in Q3 2019; and it will probably happen again next quarter, considering Q4 2018 was a midterms election quarter. The networks most certainly hope adults 25-54 return in 2020.
Speaking of the key A25-54 demo, 21 of the top 25 programs among adults 25-54 this past quarter aired on either Fox News or MSNBC. The exceptions hailed from CNN: Cuomo Prime Time (No. 11), AC 360 (No. 15), CNN Tonight with Don Lemon (No. 17), and The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer (No. 24).
Cuomo Prime Time (hosted by Chris Cuomo) was CNN’s top show of the quarter, once again. The program averaged 1.04 million total viewers and 258,000 A25-54 viewers in the 9 p.m. hour.
Here, a look at the top 10 cable news shows of the quarter:
Q3 2019 AVERAGE TOTAL VIEWERS (Nielsen Live+SD data) / vs. Q3 ’18 / # of Telecasts
- Hannity (3,276,000) / -2% / 49 telecasts
- Tucker Carlson Tonight (3,082,000) / +11% / 49 telecasts
- The Ingraham Angle (2,629,000) / -2% / 50 telecasts
- The Rachel Maddow Show (2,518,000) / -15% / 56 telecasts
- The Five (2,500,000) / +9% / 62 telecasts
- Special Report with Bret Baier (2,169,000) / EVEN / 66 telecasts
- Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell (1,937,000) / -16% / 57 telecasts
- The Story with Martha MacCallum (1,882,000) / -7% / 64 telecasts
- All In with Chris Hayes (1,531,000) / -18% / 59 telecasts
- America’s Newsroom (1,504,000) / -4% / 192 telecasts
Cable News Show Q3 2019 Ranker (Total Viewers)
Q3 2019 AVERAGE ADULTS 25-54 (Nielsen Live+SD data) / vs. Q3 ’18 / # of Telecasts
- Hannity (510,000) / -18% / 49 telecasts
- Tucker Carlson Tonight (494,000) / -8% / 49 telecasts
- The Ingraham Angle (417,000) / -17% / 50 telecasts
- The Rachel Maddow Show (393,000) / -31% / 56 telecasts
- The Five (387,000) / -5% / 62 telecasts
- Special Report with Bret Baier (342,000) / -13% / 66 telecasts
- The Story with Martha MacCallum (313,000) / -22% / 64 telecasts
- Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell (277,000) / -34% / 57 telecasts
- Fox & Friends (274,000) / -10% / 195 telecasts
- Fox News @ Night with Shannon Bream (263,000) / -20% / 67 telecasts
Cable News Show Q3 2019 Ranker (Adults 25-54)
Cable news morning show ratings: Q3 ’19 (Nielsen live-plus-same-day data)
Total Viewers / A25-54
- Fox & Friends : 1,455,000 / 274,000
- Morning Joe: 1,022,000 / 160,000
- New Day: 461,000 / 109,000