Fox News #1 Cable Network In Primetime For Scott Brown Victory Week

Fox News was the number one network in primetime in all of cable last week, riding the Scott Brown victory wave to beat out the USA Network for the top slot.

Fox News averaged 3.213 million total viewers in primetime last week, edging out USA (3.194 million).

This marks the first time Fox News claimed the #1 spot in cable since the week of the 2008 presidential election.

In April 2009, Fox News began selling advertisers on the idea that it was gunning for the #1 spot in cable.

CNN averaged 980,000 total primetime viewers for the week for 22nd place among all cable networks; MSNBC averaged 761,000 total primetime viewers for 25th place.

The week's news was dominated by the Massachusetts special election and the ongoing relief effort in Haiti. A Pew Research Center analysis showed that Fox News and MSNBC both focused on Haiti news about 15% of the time last week; CNN, by comparison, covered the Haiti earthquake about 60% of the time.

On the program level, "Glenn Beck" set several records last week: Beck saw his highest rated week ever among both total viewers (3.526 million) and the A25-54 demographic (967,000). He also saw his highest telecast ever on Friday, averaging 3.992 million total viewers and 1.127 A25-54 viewers.

"Glenn Beck" (5PM), "The O'Reilly Factor" (8PM), and "Hannity" (9PM) all won their timeslots among basic cable for the week in total viewers; "On the Record with Greta Van Susteren" (10PM) and "Special Report with Bret Baier" (6PM) both ranked second in their timeslots; and "Fox Report with Shepard Smith" (7PM) ranked 3rd in its timeslot.

Cable Time Period Ranker _LIVE+SD_ -PRIME- Week of 1-18-10 -

Comments

[rshrink]

09:49 PM on 01/29/2010

For those here who propose giving up their medicare benefits in favor of paying their own way, first, unless you are already filthy rich and have no chance of losing your wealth, then at some point, you are going to need the help of a health program. Secondly, just because you are well off doesn't mean that everyone can be. In fact, the way the system is presently controlled by corporations, many, many more people are experiencing job loss and declines in wages and benefits. So, many people would not be able to make the choice that you say you wish to make. So, while you think you have the answer to all of our problems, in fact, your answer is not entirely secure for yourself and is certainly not an answer for the majority of Americans. So, keep thinking. And by the way, the teabagging comrades will not help you find any real answers either. We don't need great sounding philosophical ideas. We need workable solutions and we need them fast, as now we are competing with the rest of the world in which many advances are being made, not held up by persons with too much money and too little understanding of the problems.

[NODRAMAME]

02:28 PM on 01/28/2010

What they fail to mention is that certain states and bars restaurants and hotel lobby practically force you to watch it so it's not always that individuals are choosing Fox News.
If I'm in a bar or restaurant that is not crowded I ask them to turn the channel.

[daultman463]

11:15 AM on 01/29/2010

That is because bar and restaurants do not count in the ratings.Asking to change the channel is your right though.

[farmilyman]

08:03 AM on 01/28/2010

The only reason Fox is number one is because the right wing is a monolithic echo chamber while the left wing is fragmented because they actually think of all angles of issues and split among all news shows.

[fairplaystacy]

12:27 AM on 01/28/2010

Their ratings will tank if and when Obama is out of office...
They're forced to kill the goose that lays the golden egg...
If Obama loses his second term Fox will lose their audience...so they'll have to find a way to get him reelected if they want an 8 year run with the big audience.

Also worth noting that if Obama turns the country around and makes a majority of people happy Fox's house of cards strategy comes down and they'll reap the backlash.

[daultman463]

05:43 PM on 01/29/2010

Their audience grew more when bush was president. The have been on a steady climb for 15 years.

[goodpyr]

12:26 AM on 01/28/2010

S'ERROR made up another word tonight."Mandation" Wonder when she'll tell us what it means?

[Fair]

09:38 PM on 01/27/2010

All these polls regarding Faux News. I have never been polled as a Democrat nor has any Dems I know.

Who are they polling??

[pakaal]

06:34 PM on 01/27/2010

Simple math. Fox is the only blatantly Conservative media outlet, so ALL Conservatives are going to watch it. Add up all the Liberal and Centrist people watching all the other stations (because we avoid all things Fox like a plague), and we'd see the majority of PEOPLE do not watch Fox.

[pasko]

12:02 PM on 01/28/2010

Fox beats all the other networks' primetime lineup combined. Simple math.

[RingworldEngineer]

05:38 PM on 01/27/2010

methinks people doth tuned in to see fox news hosts p**s their pants with glee.

[WakingLife]

05:32 PM on 01/27/2010

Why does Fox count as a "cable" network? I don't have cable. I have Fox but not USA. I always lumped Fox in with the "basic" channels like ABC, NBC, and CBS.

[howtowasteyourlife]

12:01 PM on 01/28/2010

Fox is not the same thing as the Fox News channel. Fox News is a dedicated cable news channel, while Fox is broadcast station (you don't need cable to get Fox, but you need cable to get Fox News). When people talk about "Fox News", they are referring to the dedicated cable news channel, not the nightly news on the Fox broadcast station.

[WakingLife]

04:18 AM on 01/29/2010

OK, thanks for clearing that up. Now I'm *really* glad I don't have cable. I don't think I could 24 hours of that stuff.

[Kreskytim]

03:13 PM on 01/27/2010

No wonder our country is such a screwed up mess.

[Clayton139]

07:33 PM on 01/27/2010

Agreed !

[whowhatwhywherewhen]

02:31 PM on 01/27/2010

People RELAX!!!!

Yes, it's sad that people watch FOX News and fall for their lies. But really read the paragraph where it says FOX News registered 3.213 million viewers. Daytime soaps have that audience and they are getting cancelled.

[RingworldEngineer]

05:39 PM on 01/27/2010

more people watch spongebob too, also.

[ConcernedAboutRFuture]

02:22 PM on 01/27/2010

Ahhhhh..... truly, proof that we ARE the dumbest industrialized nation out there.

WooHoo! We're number 1.... in stupidity!

[ruhappynow]

01:30 PM on 01/27/2010

Just how much of this is because Fox is free for most cable viewers and the other channels are premium news channels for which the customers have to pay an additional fee?

[howtowasteyourlife]

12:05 PM on 01/28/2010

I've always wondered the same thing. Also, what about people who don't have cable and get their news from the internet? More people have internet connections than have cable television nowadays. CNN's web site ratings blow Fox News away, yet Fox News is always picking on CNN as if nobody "watches". In reality, WAY more people are "watching" CNN, but they're doing it ONLINE, not on cable tv. Cable news ratings really only reflect the technologically illiterate demographic who still watch cable tv news - rural Americans over the age of 50 or so, everyone else gets the majority of their news online.

[dems4life]

11:47 AM on 01/27/2010

Fixed news has all racist viewers that incite violence on people they don't agree with.


look at the 3 clowns or 4 clowns yeaterday. Sicko's


And why are all these folks Irish???????? what is inthe catholic water

[pasko]

12:24 PM on 01/27/2010

What violence are you speaking of?

[Lorianne]

12:31 PM on 01/27/2010

No, pickup truck drivers are racists ... according to Keith Olberman.

[N8tracks]

09:40 AM on 01/27/2010

Fox New's biggest fan is HP.

[Lorianne]

12:30 PM on 01/27/2010

Exactly.
And Sarah Palin.

Ka-Ching!!!

By the way, where is this morning's Palin thread?
Inquiring minds need to know what she had for breakfast.