Media top headlines June 2
The media slamming DeSantis over Florida’s new transgender athlete bill, WaPo correcting a story about Tom Cotton and Chris Mathews appearing on MSNBC round out today’s top media headlines
Fox News Channel continued to thrive during May, sweeping cable news competitors in both total day and primetime viewers, while liberal CNN has lost a significant chunk of its audience after a brief post-election spike.
Fox News averaged 2.2 million primetime viewers to finish as the only basic cable channel to average more than two million viewers from 8-11 p.m. ET. MSNBC finished second with an average of 1.5 million and TNT, ESPN and HGTV rounded out the top five while CNN failed to crack the one-million viewer benchmark.
CNN averaged only 913,000 primetime viewers as the struggling lineup of Anderson Cooper, Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon saw two-thirds of its January lineup turn away.
CNN’S BRIAN STELTER HAS MISERABLE MAY AS ‘RELIABLE SOURCES’ CONTINUES TO BLEED VIEWERS
Fox News also dominated total day viewership, averaging 1.2 million viewers while No. 2 MSNBC settled for only 835,000. HGTV, CNN and ESPN joined FNC and MSNBC among the five most-watched networks in the category. As a result, FNC remains the most-watched cable news channel year to date in both total day and primetime viewers and CNN’s total day viewership is down nearly 70% since January.
"Tucker Carlson Tonight" once again finished as the most-watched show in cable news, averaging 2.9 million viewers.
As CNN primetime viewers vanish, "Tucker Carlson Tonight" once again finished as the most-watched show in cable news, averaging 2.9 million viewers. "Hannity" averaged 2.6 million viewers to finish second, and Fox News’ "The Five" averaged a smidge below to finish third despite airing in the historically less watched 5 p.m. ET timeslot.
MSNBC’s "The Rachel Maddow Show" averaged 2.5 million viewers to finish fourth, followed by FNC's "The Ingraham Angle" and "Special Report with Bret Baier."
The most-watched program on struggling CNN was the scandal-plagued "Cuomo Prime Time," which averaged one million viewers to finish No. 22 overall among cable news. CNN’s most popular show finished behind 14 different Fox News offerings and seven MSNBC programs.
"Tucker" also finished atop the key demographic of adults age 25-54, averaging 478,000 viewers from the group coveted by advertisers. "Hannity," "The Five," "Ingraham" and "Maddow" joined Carlson among the top five and "Gutfeld!" continued to thrive as the late-night program finished sixth.
Ingraham’s victory over Maddow made her the most-watched woman in cable news among the key demo during May. The success of Fox News’ most popular programs among younger viewers helped the network dominate MSNBC and CNN in the key demo. FNC averaged 203,000 demo viewers throughout the day compared to only 147,000 for CNN and 108,000 for MSNBC.
Fox News averaged 345,000 demo viewers during primetime, compared to 218,000 for CNN. While CNN struggled across the board during May, the liberal network managed to beat MSNBC in both demo categories, as MSNBC settled for only 199,000 primetime viewers between ages 25-54.
"FOX News Primetime" didn’t need a permanent host to win the 7 p.m. ET hours, as it averaged 1.6 million viewers and 274,000 in the demo to thump CNN’s "Erin Burnett OutFront" and MSNBC’s "The ReidOut." In fact, Joy Reid’s show finished with the program’s lowest-rated month in both categories since it launched.
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"Fox & Friends" was the most-watched cable morning show in both categories, crushing CNN’s "New Day" and MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" across the board. "New Day" had its least-watched month of the year in both total viewers and the demo, while "Morning Joe" had its lowest-rated month in the demo since 2015.
"America’s Newsroom with Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino," "The Faulkner Focus," "Outnumbered," "America Reports with John Roberts and Sandra Smith," Martha MacCallum’s "The Story," "Your World with Neil Cavuto," "Watters’ World," "Justice with Judge Jeanine," "Cavuto Live," "Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo" "Life Liberty and Levin," "The Next Revolution with Steve Hilton" and "MediaBuzz" were among the other successful Fox News programs that thrived during May.
All data courtesy of Nielsen Media Research.
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