Fox News Channel viewership has crushed CNN and MSNBC across the board for two-consecutive years after dominating the news-heavy month of February.
Fox News has now topped CNN and MSNBC in both total and primetime, among both total viewers and the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults age 25-54, for 24-straight months. The milestone came during a historically low month for long-struggling CNN.
Fox News averaged 1.4 million total viewers in February, finishing as the only basic cable channel to crack the one-million benchmark. MSNBC finished second with 711,000 average viewers, followed by ESPN, HGTV and CNN.
During the primetime hours of 8-11 p.m. ET, Fox News averaged 2.3 million viewers. MSNBC, ESPN, TNT and HGTV rounded out the top five while CNN failed to crack the top ten with a dismal average primetime audience of only 587,000.
When it comes to the demo most coveted by advertisers, Fox News finished with 189,000 average total day viewers compared to 89,000 for CNN and only 80,000 for MSNBC as the liberal outlets continue to struggle in the critical category. February marked CNN’s smallest audience among the demo since 2012.
During primetime, Fox News averaged 299,000 demo viewers while CNN settled for 122,000 and MSNBC managed only 119,000. It was CNN’s worst primetime performance in the category since 2013.
CNN INSIDERS SAY DON LEMON HAS 'NO DEFENDERS' AT THE NETWORK, NOT WORTH THE HEADACHE TO KEEP ON-AIR
"The Five" averaged 3.3 million viewers to lead cable news for the 11th straight month despite airing outside of the primetime hours that historically dominate viewership.
"The Five" was followed by "Tucker Carlson Tonight," "Jesse Watters Primetime," "Hannity," "Special Report with Bret Baier," "The Ingraham Angle," "Gutfeld!," "Outnumbered," "America’s Newsroom," "The Faulkner Focus," "Your World with Neil Cavuto," "America Reports" and "The Story" as Fox News accounted for the 13 most-popular shows. Along the way, Fox News aired 94 of the top 100 cable news telecasts for the month.
The most-watched, non-Fox News program was MSNBC’s "The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell," which averaged 1.4 million viewers to finish 14th.
The most popular program on ratings-challenged CNN was "Anderson Cooper 360," which managed only 673,000 nightly viewers to finish 26th among cable news. Despite having CNN’s largest audience, "Anderson Cooper 360" was outdrawn by 15 Fox News and 10 MSNBC offerings.
"CNN This Morning," the program on which Don Lemon infamously got himself into hot water talking about women in their prime, averaged only 360,000 total viewers for its smallest audience since it launched last year. By comparison, "FOX & Friends" averaged 1.2 million viewers to top cable news morning programs for the 23rd straight month.
"Tucker Carlson Tonight" averaged 461,000 viewers among the key demo to win that category, while MSNBC’s most-watched show among the demo, "All in with Chris Hayes," managed only 142,000 average viewers. "AC 360" topped CNN’s downtrodden lineup with 133,000 demo viewers to rank No. 20 among cable news programs.
"Gutfeld!" topped CBS’ "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" in the key demographic for the second time in the show’s history.
All data courtesy of Nielsen Media Research
