HLN Draws Record-Breaking Audience During Casey Anthony Trial

NEW YORK — The HLN network reached its biggest audience ever when the verdict in the Casey Anthony murder trial was announced.

The Nielsen Co. said 4.58 million people were watching HLN between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. EDT Tuesday. That's the largest audience that HLN has gathered since it began in 1982 as CNN Headline News.

In prime-time, the network had an average of 2.12 million people, its biggest audience since Sept. 11, 2001. Nielsen said Wednesday that Nancy Grace's prime-time show reached 2.9 million people, its largest audience ever.

Grace, who is convinced Anthony killed her daughter Caylee and reacted with disgust to the acquittal, has spent hours on the case since the 2-year-old girl went missing. HLN aired the Anthony trial, seeing its ratings soar in June.

Comments

[Rolfe Norman]

07:28 PM on 07/08/2011

HLN's coverage of this story is disgusting. I feel as if they are exploiting the death of a little girl fo ad revenue.

[lisaman]

10:59 AM on 07/10/2011

They are just giving the people what they want. Unfortunately.

[zaglossus]

01:49 PM on 07/08/2011

Now that this trial is over with, one wonders when HLN will move to another story (any other story because this Anthony case is all it's been there 24/7 for quite awhile.) I sometimes get the impression that Nancy Grace will continue to hound the freed Casey Anthony to her grave.

[Huntingtonbeachboy]

12:58 PM on 07/08/2011

Caylee = $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ for Nancy Grace.

[phylsboutique]

03:36 PM on 07/07/2011

The facts show: If you want to get away with murdering your child, then just hire Jose Baez!

I'm amazed and disheartened that a jury of our piers, after all the evidence shown, could come up with a 'Not Guilty' in this case. Makes you wonder if by sequestering them for that long period just made them make a hasty decision because, one had a cruise planned, and the others just wanted to go home! No way one could reach that determination if they had gone over the 300+ pieces of evidence. Now after hearing the fury of the general public, they say they believed she was guilty? They found out that the public believes they skirted their duties and now the jury members are afraid? Did they think that the general public would just overlook that they only deliberated for under 11 hours?

It's a sad day for Florida that their taxpayers were straddled with footing the bill for this case and now Casey Anthony stands to make millions of dollars after getting away with murder!

[bholly72]

04:09 PM on 07/07/2011

Can you say that you listened carefully to ALL the evidence and ONLY the evidence they did? Thought not. Your silly screed has no basis in fact.

[asta1968]

02:39 PM on 07/08/2011

I did and read a majority of the discovery. The jury may claim they didn't have enough, but innuendo and blame to everyone else carried the day. Casey got lucky that the police blew off Kronk, THAT they claim was the hinge for them.

What's done is done, and can't be undone, but narcissistic sociopaths don't change, and we'll hear from the girl again in the future.

[sarac]

03:35 PM on 07/07/2011

I will not allow that snorting, pawing, mouth breathing, hideous creature Nancy Grace on my TV. I'm glad that I cannot be counted as one of the viewers of HLN that day.

[phylsboutique]

03:40 PM on 07/07/2011

Are you afraid of the truth?

[sarac]

03:44 PM on 07/07/2011

Never...I simply want it presented in a civilized manner. And don't forget what she did to the 3 innocent Duke University lacrosse students.

[bholly72]

04:10 PM on 07/07/2011

Nancy Grace wouldn't know the truth if it ran over her like a steamroller. That's what happens to people who habitually make up their minds before the evidence is in.

[amaboss52]

01:49 PM on 07/07/2011

The jury did their job in spite of the media.

[phylsboutique]

03:39 PM on 07/07/2011

This jury DID NOT do their job, by letting this person go free, they only showed their stupidity to all the facts presented and that they believed all the UNPROVED LIES TOLD BY JOSE BAEZ IN the opening statements!

[bholly72]

04:14 PM on 07/07/2011

You just don't get it. The prosecution's forensic evidence: duct tape evidence, chloroform evidence, and, worst of all, smell evidence, was full of holes. You can't convict somebody of murder when the state can't even prove that there was a murder. The defense has nothing to prove, and I doubt if any of the jurors believed the story told in the defense opening, but that's irrelevant. Next time, pay attention to the actual evidence presented in court instead of Nancy Grace's version of it.

[amaboss52]

04:19 PM on 07/07/2011

Your ignorance about our judicial system is showing. You obviously don't have a clue how it works. I for one am glad people like you were'nt on that jury. I would hope you never serve as a juror. The "facts" that were presented were weak at best and the prosecutors DID NOT meet their burden of proof. You seems to know everything without knowing anything. You are just another blood thirsty ignoramous, screeching because it didn't work out like you were told it would. Grow up, our judicial system worked whether you like the outcome or not.

[bholly72]

01:09 PM on 07/07/2011

If someone assaults Ms. Anthony, it will be Nancy Grace's fault. She is very close to shouting fire in a crowded theatre.

[HopeGirl]

01:47 PM on 07/07/2011

what do you mean very close.

I wonder what cnn hack will follow Ms. Grace on trial for aggravated murder....JVM I am sure. endless supply of these shrill, shrieking, shrews.

[jtraveler]

12:38 PM on 07/08/2011

shrill, shrieking, shrews: exactly!!

[bfcg]

12:59 PM on 07/07/2011

I did not follow the case and I really don't know what the case was really about other than some woman might have killed somebody but I do know what these types of stories do to the public via the media and I do know what they do for ratings. I am happy that 12 people could render the media impotent with 2 words....."Not Guilty".

[BeerLover]

02:09 PM on 07/07/2011

You're happy that a woman who didn't report her child missing received a verdict of NOT GUILTY? Best to be silent and thought a fool then open your mouth and remove all doubt.

[YOKEL13]

02:21 PM on 07/07/2011

The child's grandparents, with whom she lived, also failed to report her missing for the same 31 days.

[amaboss52]

04:24 PM on 07/07/2011

Read the post again, that's not what they are saying. They are saying that the jury came to the only verdict it could WITHOUT the input of the media. They listened to the trial, they listened to the judges instructions and did what they had to do. What is wrong with people like you, who would be happy about a child killer being set free? Maybe you should take the advice of your last sentence.

[tpcinaz]

12:34 PM on 07/07/2011

Everyone wanted to watch the top of Nancy Grace's head blow off.

[bholly72]

12:45 PM on 07/07/2011

Well, it's a damn shame that the top of her head didn't blow off. She, the Velez Mitchell person, and all the other creeps covering the story of HLN/CNN have been doing everything possible to incite a lynch mob. The rhetoric of this blonde, braying harridan has the taint of bloodlust. Even Dr. Drew has been drawn into the lynch mob mentality. I have never been so disgusted by so-called "news" coverage in my life.

[tpcinaz]

01:16 PM on 07/07/2011

I couldn't have said it better...these people are more dangerous to American justice than a tainted jury or a judge on the take.

[jtraveler]

12:39 PM on 07/08/2011

ITA!

[BassguyGG]

10:03 AM on 07/07/2011

They learned from the O.J. trial that these kinds of trials are big ratings. In this Era of Reality TV America's appetite for such things has grown, if anything. And anyway, it was much more compelling than the usual lame programming they air (I love ya Joy Behar, but...)

[MrJoyboy]

09:47 AM on 07/07/2011

Violating someone's constitutional rights to a fair trial pays big.

[JFaye]

12:24 PM on 07/07/2011

This was a remarkable jury to rise above the media fury and seriously consider the task before them ...

[bonbon]

12:32 PM on 07/07/2011

"Seriously"?

[Richcrafter]

09:24 AM on 07/07/2011

We are officially an insane culture.

[AN2009]

02:23 AM on 07/08/2011

Yeah. It'd be nice if news outlets spent more time covering unemployment, Wall Street corruption, national debt crisis, federal government dysfunction, etc. -- issues that have far-reaching implications -- but it's all about getting the ratings with these sensational trials of little importance in the greater scheme of things. Sad.

[prrrrrr]

01:47 PM on 07/08/2011

Ever watch MSNBC - that's all they DO cover!

[justandra]

09:13 AM on 07/07/2011

Did they take into consideration most viewers were wanting to see Nancy combust on live tv.

[fineartgalaxy]

09:03 AM on 07/07/2011

HLN is in the business of mob lynching manufacturing. And making big money out of it.

[phylsboutique]

03:41 PM on 07/07/2011

OH really.............................you must have HLN confused with Fox Noise!

[lisaman]

12:11 PM on 07/08/2011

Well they were the first to give Glenn Beck a job on TV.

[fineartgalaxy]

09:00 AM on 07/07/2011

Nancy Grace may or may not agree with the verdict. That is her right to do so. But she does not have the right to insult the jurors and make this entire process a mockery.

[LonosCurse]

10:29 AM on 07/07/2011

Especially since if it were not for that process she'd be waitressing in a diner in Cobb County, Georgia.

[000005]

12:53 PM on 07/07/2011

No because it is already a mockery.