Media top headlines February 23
In media news today, James Clapper said he wished the Obama White House was more aggressive against Russia, an MSNBC guest claims the Obama administration emboldened Putin to invade Ukraine, and ‘The Five’ remembers Bob Beckel.
Fox News pulverized MSNBC and CNN last week, topping viewership of the liberal networks combined for the 27th straight week.
Fox News averaged 1.5 million viewers from Feb. 14-20 while no other basic cable offering averaged more than one million viewers during that time. MSNBC finished second with 659,000 average viewers, followed by USA, HGTV and TNT. CNN settled for seventh place with an average of only 484,000 viewers.
Fox News also dominated the primetime hours of 8-11 p.m., averaging 2.5 million viewers compared to two million for runner-up TNT.
"The Five" averaged 3.6 million viewers to finish as the most-watched cable news program of the week.
MSNBC averaged 1.1 million to finish third but CNN’s long-struggling primetime lineup of Anderson Cooper and Don Lemon averaged only 571,000 primetime viewers to finish behind 18 basic cable networks. It was CNN’s least-watched, non-holiday week in weekday primetime since 2014.
Investigation Discovery, Syfy, Hallmark Moves & Mysteries, Lifetime, Paramount, TBS, Discovery, Food Network, ESPN, INSP, TLC, History, Hallmark Channel, USA and HGTV all also finished with a larger primetime audience than CNN. Fox News topped the liberal network by 330% during primetime.
Fox News’ cable repeat of "FOX News Sunday," which was guest hosted by Bill Hemmer, averaged 996,000 to beat everything CNN had to offer for the entire week.
Rachel Maddow’s extended hiatus to work on other projects continued to haunt MSNBC, as the network’s 9 p.m. ET hour averaged 25% fewer viewers than her last week on the job.
MSNBC and CNN both struggled among the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults age 25-54.
Fox News averaged 244,000 viewers among the critical category compared to 99,000 for CNN and only 67,000 for MSNBC. During primetime, Fox News attracted 353,000 demo viewers while CNN managed only 121,000 and MSNBC averaged 114,000.
Both CNN and MSNBC were outdrawn by a variety of networks including WETV, CNBC, BET, TV Land, Adult Swim, FXX, Freeform, Nick-at-Nite and Comedy Central in the critical category.
"The Five" averaged 3.6 million viewers to finish as the most-watched cable news program of the week, while "Tucker Carlson Tonight" finished second and was the most-watched show among the key demo with 526,000 viewers in the advertiser-coveted category. "The Five" and "Tucker" both managed to outdraw free TV options including ABC’s "The Bachelor," "Good Morning America," CBS’ "The Amazing Race" and NBC’s "Today" show.
"FOX & Friends" has been cable news’ most-popular morning show for 48-straight weeks. (Fox News)
"Hannity," finished third among total viewers with three million, followed by "Jesse Watters Primetime" and "Special Report with Bret Baier." "Gutfeld!" averaged 1.9 million to top "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" and "America’s Newsroom with Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino" averaged 1.8 million to beat NBC’s "Today with Hoda and Jenna," ABC’s "GMA3" and CBS’ "The Talk."
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"FOX & Friends" averaged 1.4 million for its most-watched week of 2022, topping MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" and CNN’s "New Day" combined in the process. "FOX & Friends" has been cable news’ most-popular morning show for 48 straight weeks.
"Life, Liberty & Levin was the No. 1 cable news program of the weekend with two million viewers. Fox News’ cable repeat of "FOX News Sunday," which was guest hosted by Bill Hemmer, averaged 996,000 to beat everything CNN had to offer for the entire week.
Fox News had 95 of the top 100 cable news telecast for the week.
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