Fox News Channel crushed cable news competition last week as CNN had its smallest audience in years in several crucial categories.
Fox News averaged 1.4 million total viewers from June 13-19 while no other basic cable network surpassed the one-million benchmark. MSNBC finished second, averaging 882,000 viewers, and HGTV finished third with 512,000.
During the primetime hours of 8-11 p.m., Fox News topped all of basic cable with 2.2 million average viewers compared to 1.4 million for No. 2 MSNBC. CNN struggled in both categories, averaging only 432,000 total viewers and only 504,000 during primetime.
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Paramount, TV Land, Investigation Discovery, FX, USA, History, Food Network, TLC, INSP, Discovery, Hallmark and HGTV joined Fox News and MSNBC among networks to outperform CNN during primetime. Fox News outperformed CNN’s weekday primetime viewership by 404% for its largest advantage since 2015.
Fox News has now outdrawn CNN and MSNBC combined among total viewers for 44 straight weeks.
Fox News also finished No. 1 among the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults age 25-54, averaging 210,000 total demo viewers and 315,000 during primetime to win both categories. CNN’s performance was particularly weak among the critical category, as the network averaged only 91,000 total demo viewers and settled for 118,000 during primetime.
CNN’s primetime demo audience was topped by 28 different basic cable offerings, including Adult Swim, BET, MTV, Nick-at-Nite and Syfy. On Friday, CNN averaged only 56,000 viewers between ages 25-54 for its smallest weekday audience in the demo since July 10, 2000.
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"The Five" averaged 3.1 million viewers to finished as the most-watched program on cable news as Fox News aired 73 of top 100 cable news telecasts for the week.
"Tucker Carlson Tonight" averaged 483,000 viewers between ages 25-54 to finish No. 1 among the critical demo and finished second among total viewers with three million.
"Hannity" averaged 2.6 million total viewers to finish third, followed by "Jesse Watters Primetime" and "Special Report with Bret Baier."
"FOX & Friends" averaged 1.4 million viewers to outperform MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" and CNN’s "New Day" for the 65th straight week. CNN’s long-struggling morning show, which will be "re-imagined" later this year, managed an average audience of only 284,000 total viewers as it was quintupled by "FOX & Friends."
"Gutfeld!" averaged 1.9 million viewers to outdraw ABC’s "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" and NBC’s "The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon."
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The most-watched cable news offering on Saturday was "Unfiltered with Dan Bongino," which averaged 1.5 million viewers.
CNN managed only 67,000 average viewers between ages 25-54 from June 18-19 for its smallest weekend audience since 2000 in the demo. It was also the network’s smallest audience on a Saturday among the demo since October 1993 when only 58,000 tuned in, and only the second time that CNN delivered under 60,000 demo viewers on a Saturday in 29 years.
In total-day viewership, CNN had its smallest Saturday audience since 1997 and its smallest primetime audience on a Saturday since 2000.
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On Sunday, Maria Bartiromo’s "Sunday Morning Futures" attracted an average audience of 1.6 million to win the weekend crown. Meanwhile, CNN’s "Reliable Sources" with Brian Stelter managed only 421,000 total viewers and a mere 56,000 among the demo. It was the smallest audience for "Reliable Sources" since December 27, 2015, among total viewers and the smallest since Dec. 29, 2013, among the demo.
All ratings data courtesy of Nielsen Media Research.