Impeachment Viewership: An Estimated 9.3 Million Tuned In On Monday

An estimated 9.3 million people tuned in to impeachment trial coverage across six networks on Monday, according to Nielsen, and President Donald Trump’s legal team presented its case to the Senate.

Impeachment viewership so far has ranged from about 11 million viewers on the first day of the Senate trial, to a low of 6.7 million on Friday. The figures are in the time period when the six networks competed head-to-head with each other — roughly from 12:45 p.m. ET to 3:15 p.m. ET.

Fox News topped all viewers in Monday’s coverage, with 3.4 million. CBS News was first among all broadcast networks, with 1.5 million viewers, followed by ABC with 1.3 million, CNN with 1.1 million, MSNBC with 1.08 million and NBC with 857,000. The figures are live-plus same day numbers provided by CBS News, and in the world of TV news publicity spinmeisters, rivals are often quick to highlight their own bright spots or of numbers for longer time frames, when not all networks were on the air.

On Monday, CBS and ABC signed off just after 3; NBC stayed on air longer, until about 5 p.m., and offered affiliates a feed with Chuck Todd anchoring coverage. 

Here’s the rundown of impeachment viewership so far — with numbers representing the time period when the six networks were all on the air:

First day, Tuesday, January 21: 10.6 million viewers (across six networks). Top cable: Fox News, 2.6 million; top broadcast: CBS News, 1.9 million.

Second day, Wednesday, January 22: 8.4 million viewers. Top cable: MSNBC, 1.8 million; top broadcast: CBS News, 1.4 million.

Third day, Thursday, January 23: 7.3 million viewers. Top cable: MSNBC, 1.5 million; top broadcast: CBS News, 1.4 million.

Fourth day, Friday, January 24: 6.7 million viewers. Top cable: MSNBC, 1.6 million; top broadcast: CBS News, 1.3 million.

Fifth day, Saturday, January 25: 10.1 million viewers. Top cable: Fox News, 4.5 million; top broadcast: ABC News, 1.3 million.