Donald Trump’s White House may not yet be experiencing all that “winning” he promised.
But you know who is?
Cable news.
Fox News Channel, for instance, clocked its biggest quarterly total-viewer crowd in its history. The network launched in October of 1996.
FNC’s flagship primetime show, The O’Reilly Factor, claimed the biggest quarter total-viewer tally for any program in cable news history, 4 million viewers.
In every timeslot, from 6 AM and 11 PM, FNC logged its biggest ever quarterly crowds.
But CNN and MSNBC also had things to crow about in re the quarter that started on December 26, 2016 – the day news outlets reported Stephen Miller would write President-elect Trump’s American Carnage Inaugural Address – and ran though this past Sunday.
MSNBC, for instance, enjoyed cable news’s biggest ratings boosts, percentage-wise, year to year, including a 51% spike in total day total viewers (756K), a 58% total-viewer leap in primetime (1.402M viewers), as well as a 37% jump in total-day news-demo viewers (179K), and a 46% pop in primetime news-demo viewers (330K).
CNN, meanwhile, boasted its most-watched 1Q since 2003 in both total viewers and the news demo for total day. All
CNN shows beat MSNBC’s this quarter in the news demo, except at 9 PM, where Rachel Maddow prevailed, thanks in no small part, to her much mocked – but also much viewed – reveal of Donald Trump’s headline-challenged 2005 tax return. The episode attracted her biggest crowd on record, 4.13 million viewers, including about 1.4M in the 25-54 news demographic group, which was also a Maddow record. Maddow’s is the only non-FNC program to crack the cable news’ quarterly Top 10, in total viewers (No. 7) and in the demo (No. 6)
CNN showed a slight 1Q ratings slip in primetime compared to last year, owing to the network having hosted a mind-numbing 12 exclusive ratings-magnet debates and town halls in first quarter ’16, to MSNBC’s 1 and FNC’s 3.
In total viewers, the Top 5 cable news shows of 1Q17: FNC’s The O’Reilly Factor (3.982M), Tucker Carlson Tonight (3.272M), The Five (3.031M), Special Report with Bret Baier (2.953M) and Hannity (2.871M).
Among adults 25-54, the Top 5 cable news show of 1Q17: The O’Reilly Factor (728K); Tucker Carlson Tonight (689K); Hannity (668K); The First 100 Days (540K), and Special Report with Bret Baier (533K).
Here are 1Q17 stats before finale weekend factored in:
TOTAL DAY
FNC: 1,728,000 total viewers – up 28% (362,000 in 25-54 – up 34%) (65,000 in 18-34 – up 38%)
CNN: 812,000 total viewers – up 11% (260,000 in 25-54 – up 20%) (60,000 in 18-34 – up 3%)
MSNBC: 756,000 total viewers – up 51% (179,000 in 25-54 – up 37%) (37,000 in 18-34 – up 28%)
PRIMETIME: 8-11PM/ET
FNC: 2,866,000 total viewers – up 21% (580,000 in 25-54 – up 20%) (107,000 in 18-34 – up 2%)
CNN: 1,175,000 total viewers – down 17% (402,000 in 25-54 – down 12%) (102,000 in 18-34 – down 28%)
MSNBC: 1,402,000 total viewers – up 58% (330,000 in 25-54 – up 46%) (70,000 in 18-34 – up 37%)
More to come…
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