For the week of March 30, Fox News remained at the top of the basic cable heap, not just in total day but also in prime time in Total Viewers and the key Adults 25-54 demo.
Fox News topped the basic cable landscape in both key categories for the third consecutive week, during continuous coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, which includes airing the White House daily coronavirus task force briefings in their entirety. FNC also marked its 13th consecutive week as the most-watched cable network in total day (2.5 million viewers), and its 11th consecutive week as most-watched in prime time (4.1 million viewers).
Last week, 27 Fox News telecasts garnered over 4 million total viewers. The network’s programming also made up the top 31 cable telecasts in Total Viewers and comprised 12 of the top 15 cable telecasts in the 25-54 demo, according to live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen.
CNN had quite a week in its own right. It finished ahead of MSNBC as the second-most-watched network on basic cable, not just in total day (1.55 million vs. 1.34 million) but also in prime time (2.2 million vs. 2.1 million), and it defeated its rival in Adults 25-54 during those aforementioned dayparts.
CNN was also the second-most-watched network on all of cable for the week in Adults 25-54, and posted 200% growth in total prime time viewership from the comparable week in 2019.
MSNBC may have dropped behind CNN for the week in Total Viewers, but finishing No. 3 across cable in that category isn’t anything to scoff at. The network earned a top 10 spot in the key A25-54 demo as well.
Despite another weekly win, Fox News was down from the prior week, a record-setting one: -5% in total prime time viewers, -5% in total day viewers, -8% in the prime time demo and -6% in the total day demo.
CNN was +3% in total prime time viewers, but -5% in total day viewers from the prior week. The network held steady in the A25-54 demo during prime time, but was -7% in the total day demo.
MSNBC dropped, week-to-week: -10% in total prime time viewers, -9% in total day viewers. The A25-54 demo audience drop-off was more pronounced: -16% in prime time and -15% in total day.
Top 10 Cable Networks (Total Prime Time Viewers)
- Fox News (4,019,000)
- CNN (2,219,000)
- MSNBC (2,104,000)
- TLC (1,167,000)
- HGTV (1,156,000)
- History (1,085,000)
- Hallmark Channel (1,043,000)
- TBS (990,000)
- TNT (917,000)
- Food Network (891,000)
Top 10 Cable Networks (Total Day Viewers)
- Fox News (2,511,000)
- CNN (1,553,000)
- MSNBC (1,356,000)
- HGTV (756,000)
- Food (626,000)
- Hallmark (620,000)
- History (590,000)
- Nickelodeon (536,000)
- Investigation Discovery (511,000)
- TNT (511,000)
Top 10 Cable Networks (Adults 25-54, Prime Time)
- Fox News (769,000)
- CNN (718,000)
- TBS (528,000)
- TLC (443,000)
- TNT (441,000)
- Food (415,000)
- USA (371,000)
- HGTV (368,000)
- MSNBC (359,000)
- AMC (348,000)
Top 10 Cable Networks (Adults 25-54, Total Day)
- Fox News (538,000)
- CNN (485,000)
- TBS (284,000)
- Food Network (269,000)
- HGTV (245,000)
- MSNBC (234,000)
- TNT (228,000)
- USA (228,000)
- A&E (205,000)
- Investigation Discovery (204,000)
Below, a full ranker of Nielsen-measured cable networks: