Media top headlines August 25
In media news today, an NBC report blasts Biden's 'humiliating' Afghanistan withdrawal, Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin gets accused of 'running PR for the Taliban,' and Andrew Cuomo gets stripped of his Emmy amid sexual harassment scandal
Americans flocked to Fox News Channel last week as the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan unfolded and the network finished No. 1 in all of television among primetime viewers.
"Fox News pulled off something it hasn’t achieved since last September: A total live-viewership primetime win that beat the other cable news networks and broadcast," TheWrap’s Lindsey Ellefson wrote.
Indeed, Fox News averaged 2.98 million viewers during the primetime hours of 8-11 p.m. ET from August 16-22, while MSNBC averaged 1.2 million and CNN settled for only 960,000. FNC dominated cable news competition for the week, but also beat all broadcast networks as NBC averaged 2.7 million, CBS averaged 2.5 million and ABC settled for 2.4 million.
Fox News averaged 2.98 million viewers during the primetime hours of 8-11 p.m.
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"Hannity" averaged 3.7 million viewers to finish as the most-watched program on cable news, follow by 3.6 million for "Tucker Carlson Tonight." "The Five," The Ingraham Angle" and "Special Report with Bret Baier" joined "Hannity" and "Tucker" among the top five.
Fox News finished with nine of the 10 most-watched cable news programs, with MSNBC’s "The Rachel Maddow Show" finishing tenth. Overall, Fox News finished with the top 24 cable telecasts and top 33 cable news telecasts for the week.
The news-heavy week also saw embattled "Cuomo Prime Time" namesake Chris Cuomo return to CNN for the first time since his big brother announced he would step down as New York governor amid a sexual harassment scandal. "Cuomo Prime Time" finished as the most-watched show on CNN, but finished No. 21 overall behind six different MSNBC and 14 Fox News programs.
"Hannity" was also the most-watched show among the key news demographic of adults age 25-54, averaging 669,000 viewers among the category coveted by advertisers. Fox News had the top 13 shows in the category. Fox News has now beaten CNN and MSNBC every hour of the day among the demo for three-straight weeks.
Fox News beat CNN and MSNBC combined with Monday through Friday total day and primetime viewership among both total viewers and in the demo. It was the largest margin of victory among the total day demo since the week former President Trump was inaugurated in 2017.
"America Reports," "America’s Newsroom," "The Faulkner Focus," "The Five," "FOX & Friends," "FOX News Primetime," "Your World with Neil Cavuto" and "Gutfeld!" all finished with their most-watched weeks of the year among both total viewers and the key demo.
"FOX & Friends" continues to crush rival mornings shows, averaging 1.3 million viewers while MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" averaged only 796,000 viewers and CNN’s "New Day" continued to embarrass the liberal network with a dismal average of only 446,000 total viewers.
CNN’s struggling "New Day" has now failed to crack 500,000 viewers for 17 straight weeks.
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"Gutfeld!" outdrew all broadcast and late night programs in both total viewers and among the demo, even topping CBS’ "Late Show with Stephen Colbert" for the week.
"Watters’ World" was the most-watched cable news program on Saturday with 2.1 million viewers. On Sunday, "Life, Liberty and Levin" had the most-watched cable news show of the entire weekend with 2.2 million viewers and "Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy" had its most-watched episode since it launched.
All data courtesy of Nielsen Media Research.
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