It’s one thing for a cable news network to come in first place among its rivals for weeks, months or even a year, but it’s quite another now that the Fox News Channel is celebrating the achievement of topping the ratings charts for 18 consecutive years.
Ainsley Earhardt, a co-host of the Fox & Friends morning program, announced on Wednesday: “Fox News is the most-watched cable news network for the 18th year in a row.”
She threw in some mocking of CNN, noting, “The most watched show on CNN was Anderson Cooper’s AC 360. It finished number 23 behind 14 Fox News programs. At Fox and Friends, we are celebrating our highest rated month in three years with an average 1.7 million viewers. And for that, we say thank you.”
January, of course, was the impeachment trial. Apparently, Americans just don't to watch the liberal CNN's spin on the Senate trial.
During the weeknight primetime schedule, host Sean Hannity remains the “king of cable news” with 3.9 million viewers and 650,000 in the key demographic of people from 25 to 54 years old. According to a press release FNC posted on Tuesday, fellow weeknight anchors Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham help the channel dominate the slate from Mondays through Fridays.
The release stated: During the month of January, Fox had “a whopping top eight out of the 10 cable news programs in total viewers, including Tucker Carlson Tonight, Hannity and The Ingraham Angle.”
In that time, Carlson “bagged 3.6 million total and 630,000 in the demo” while Ingraham “notched 3.3 million and 562,000” in the important demographic.
The document also indicated: “For the 43rd straight month, FNC crushed all of basic cable in total day viewership with 1.7 million total viewers for the month of January. In primetime, FNC was also the most-watched network in all of basic cable with 2.9 million viewers, dominating sports-focused ESPN.”
FNC programming “also dominated the weekend, with every program topping CNN and MSNBC.”
The release quoted an internal memo sent to the staff by Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott and company President Jay Wallace, both of whom stated that the channel “has marked yet another historic milestone:”
We passed CNN at the end of January 2002 in viewership and the key 25-54 demo in both total day and primetime, and never looked back.
[N]o other network in cable ... can lay claim to this level of consistent dominance with one of the most loyal and passionate audiences in the country.
“Fox News has continued to dominate the competition even during the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.” As proof of that claim, the executives stated FNC has “averaged 2.92 million total viewers in primetime this month, followed by MSNBC with 1.72 million and CNN with 1.188 million.”
In the 25-54 demographic, “Fox News also won with 470,000 average viewers in primetime, followed by CNN with 323,000 and MSNBC with 286,000.” The press release concluded by stating the channel is “a 24-hour all-encompassing news service” that is “available in nearly 90 million homes and dominates the cable news landscape, routinely notching the top ten programs in the genre."
