The cable news industry was hit with another month of tough ratings news.
Every network saw its ratings drop from 2012, a politics-heavy election year that was guaranteed to spike audiences. In primetime, Fox News suffered the biggest plunge, falling 33 percent from its 2012 numbers. CNN fell a nearly equally precipitous 28 percent, while MSNBC dropped 4 percent.
Fox News, which has had several well-publicized ratings issues over the past few months, saw its primetime numbers fall to new lows in the all-important A25-54 category for many shows. MSNBC gloated in its press release, saying that hosts Sean Hannity and Greta Van Susteren had their worst demo ratings ever. Bill O'Reilly's demo ratings were also off by 26 percent. (All three shows were, of course, still at the top of the ratings.)
But Fox News' overall dominance is not really in question; the network has been in first place for a mind-boggling 45 quarters (or just over 11 years).
MSNBC topped CNN in total viewers and demo viewers, and saw a 30 percent increase in daytime viewers in the A25-54 demo.
There was good news for CNN, too: "AC360" posted gains in the 8:00 p.m. hour, increasing 17 percent in total viewers and 9 percent in the demo. Erin Burnett and Wolf Blitzer's shows also saw small ratings increases.
HLN, the crime-driven CNN sister station, was the biggest winner for the month, as its nonstop coverage of the Jodi Arias trial drove it to new ratings highs. The network boasted double-digit gains and was up 17 percent in total viewers and 23 percent in the coveted A25-54 demo. The network also scored its best ever March in total viewers, up 53 percent from this time last year.
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