Fox News Channel’s “The Five” led all cable news programs for the week ending April 17.
Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel’s The Five was the most-watched show in all of cable news last week, drawing an average total audience of 3.55 million viewers, remarkable for a show that airs outside of prime time, when viewership is typically at its highest. The Five helped push Fox News to its 40th consecutive week beating the combined audiences of CNN and MSNBC in prime, with an average audience of 2.281 million viewers.
Rachel Maddow’s return to MSNBC’s prime time lineup (though she did announced that in May she would transition to hosting The Rachel Maddow Show just one night a week) drew a total audience of 1.9 million viewers, but trailed the top-rated show in the 9 p.m. hour, Fox News Channel’s Hannity, which delivered a total audience of 3.004 million viewers.
Rachel Maddow on the set of MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” in New York
Nathan Congleton/NBC
Following The Five, the top-rated shows for the week were Tucker Carlson Tonight (3.401 million viewers), Hannity (3.004 million viewers), Jesse Watters Primetime (2.918 million viewers) and Special Report (2.648 million viewers).
In the key demo of viewers 25-54, the demographic group most valued by advertisers, Tucker Carlson Tonight was first overall with an average audience of 560,000 viewers, followed by The Five (519,000 viewers), Hannity (474,000 viewers), Jesse Watters Primetime (434,000 viewers) and Special Report (409,000 viewers), all airing on Fox News Channel. Rachel Maddow’s return drew an average audience of 220,000 viewers in the key demo.
In the morning day part, Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends easily outdistanced its competition on CNN and MSNBC, drawing an average total audience of 1.442 million viewers and 245,000 viewers in the key demo. CNN’s New Day was third overall with an average audience of 446,000 viewers, but finished second behind Fox & Friends in the key demo with an audience of 108,000 viewers. MSNBC’s Morning Joe took second place overall with 786,000 viewers and finished third among viewers 25-54, with an average audience of 91,000 viewers.
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