Fox News Channel attracted more viewers than all broadcast and cable news networks during ex-Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s congressional testimony on Wednesday, despite MSNBC’s best efforts to mislead viewers with a conspiracy theory that FNC wouldn’t even air the hearing.
Fox News averaged 3 million viewers from 8:15 a.m. through 3:45 p.m, with anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, while lawmakers grilled Mueller. MSNBC finished second, averaging 2.4 million viewers over the same time period, according to early Nielsen Media data.
After the testimony, Fox News’ primetime lineup attracted more viewers than CNN and MSNBC combined.
Fox News averaged 4.3 million viewers from 8-11 p.m. ET, compared to 2.3 million for MSNBC and 1.2 million for CNN. Fox News also dominated among the demo, averaging 724,000 viewers between the ages of 25-54, compared to 418,000 for MSNBC and 382,000 for the struggling CNN.
“Hannity” was the most-watched cable news show among total viewers, while “Tucker Carlson Tonight” finished atop the demo.
MSNBC GUEST MAKES FALSE CLAIM THAT FOX NEWS WON’T AIR MUELLER HEARING AS NICOLE WALLACE PLAYS ALONG
“Fox isn’t showing Mueller’s testimony Wednesday. Trump is afraid of what will happen if his base gets to hear Mueller’s testimony for themselves,” MSNBC contributor Joyce Vance -- who also contributes to the Washington Post -- told her 337,000 Twitter followers on Sunday.
The Obama-appointed U.S. Attorney-turned-MSNBC legal contributor spent much of the afternoon defending her misinformation as "sarcasm" and "irony" before quietly deleting the message hours after it went viral. Plenty of people took Vance seriously, resulting in author Stephen King, Los Angeles Times columnist David Lazarus and a pair of MSNBC guests parroting the false claim.
It turns out that MSNBC honchos probably wish Vance’s bogus claim was accurate, as FNC topped the liberal network by over a half-million viewers during Mueller’s hearing. Meanwhile, CNN averaged only 1.5 million viewers, less than half of Fox News’ total and well behind MSNBC.
Fox News averaged 441,000 viewers between the ages 25-54, compared to 365,000 for CNN and 347,000 for MSNBC.
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Fox News also topped all broadcast networks among total viewers, as ABC averaged 2.1 million, NBC averaged 2 million and CBS averaged 1.9 million compared to FNC’s 3 million.
Fox News Digital also picked up its most page views in a day since last November’s Midterm Election, according to Adobe Analytics.