Fox News Channel dominated last night’s special coverage of President Donald Trump’s launch of his 2020 re-election campaign, drawing nearly five million total viewers and nearly one million in the 25-54 demo, according to Nielsen Media Research.
From 8:15-9:30 PM/ET, FNC ranked number one in both categories, averaging 984,000 in the 25-54 demographic and 4,961,000 viewers, beating CNN and MSNBC combined by triple digits with demo and double digits with total viewers.
CNN cut away from the rally at the eight-minute mark, when the crowd started chanting, “CNN sucks” and the president invoked the “fake news” slur, while Fox News Channel stuck with the speech coverage throughout. Fellow cable news outlet MSNBC snubbed the president completely, sticking with its regularly scheduled programming without interruptions for the speech.
With the coverage, FNC marked its third highest primetime night of the year in both categories, delivering 4,235,000 viewers and 800,000 in the demo. Additionally, FNC’s Hannity at 9 PM/ET had its second highest telecast of the year and was the top-rated program last night in all of cable news.
Hannity drew 5 million viewers and 973,000 in the 25-54 demo, outpacing all of CNN and MSNBC’s programming as well as NBC’s Songland in total viewers and ABC’s Beat the Connors in the demo, according to FNC and Nielsen. Tucker Carlson Tonight (Weekdays 8PM/ET) also had its second highest delivery of the year in both categories delivering 4.5 million viewers and 866,000 in the 25-54 demo.
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