Fox News Gains As CNN, MSNBC Drop Significantly In February Cable News Ratings

Fox News Channel host Jesse Watters had one of the highest-rated shows in all of cable news in … [+] February

Fox News Channel

Despite huge breaking news in the form of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, cable news viewers turned away from the longtime leader in covering major world news, CNN, and flocked to Fox News Channel. According to ratings data compiled by Nielsen, Fox News had the five most-watched shows in cable news, with The Five finishing February in first place with an average total audience of 3.692 million viewers.

The Five—despite airing outside prime time, which is traditionally when viewership is highest—just slightly outpaced FNC’s Tucker Carlson Tonight (3.621 million viewers), Jesse Watters Primetime (3.1 million viewers), Hannity (3.059 million viewers) and Special Report with Bret Baier (2.672 million viewers)—all on Fox.

Among viewers 25-54, the demographic group most valued by advertisers, Tucker Carlson Tonight finished first overall with an average audience of 615,000 viewers, followed by The Five (548,000 viewers), Jesse Watters Primetime (505,000 viewers), Hannity (504,000 viewers) and Special Report with Bret Baier (449,000 viewers).

Among the cable networks, Fox News dominated prime time with an average total audience of 2.634 million viewers, representing an increase of 6% from the same period one year ago. MSNBC was second with 1.194 million viewers (down 46% year-over-year, and CNN (774,000 viewers, representing a decline of 54% from 2021).

In the key demo, Fox News was first in prime with an average audience of 443,000 viewers (up 21% from one year ago), followed by CNN (212,000 viewers, representing a decline of 49% from 2021) and MSNBC (140,000 viewers, down 59% year-over-year).

TOPSHOT – A woman with a child walks in front of a damaged residential building at Koshytsa Street, … [+] a suburb of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, where a military shell allegedly hit, on February 25, 2022. – Russian forces reached the outskirts of Kyiv on Friday as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the invading troops were targeting civilians and explosions could be heard in the besieged capital. Pre-dawn blasts in Kyiv set off a second day of violence after Russian President Vladimir Putin defied Western warnings to unleash a full-scale ground invasion and air assault on Thursday that quickly claimed dozens of lives and displaced at least 100,000 people. (Photo by Daniel LEAL / AFP) (Photo by DANIEL LEAL/AFP via Getty Images)

AFP via Getty Images

CNN has for decades outperformed the competition in times of major breaking news, particularly in times of war, but since Wednesday of last week when the Ukraine story raced to dominate prime time cable news coverage, CNN has not been able to catch Fox News. In the five days since Wednesday, Fox has delivered an average prime time audience of 3.2 million viewers—representing a 76% edge over CNN.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/markjoyella/2022/03/01/fox-news-gains-as-cnn-msnbc-drop-significantly-in-february-cable-news-ratings/