Fox News Runs Away With RNC Ratings

Fox News Channel delivered 5.8 million total viewers during primetime Wednesday, with 1.3 million in the key 25-54 demo, according to Nielsen. The night marked day three of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, with speeches from Ted Cruz, Eric Trump and Mike Pence, among others.

CNN had just over 3 million total viewers, and 893,000 in the 25-54 demo.

MSNBC drew 1.64 million total viewers and 452,000 in the demo.

The broadcast networks switched to convention coverage at 10 p.m. ET, and NBC was the big winner in that group, helped by a strong America’s Got Talent lead-in.

Fox News’ 10 p.m. hour, anchored by Bret Baier and Megyn Kelly, averaged 7.3 million viewers and 1.7 million people in the demo, with NBC runner up in total viewers at just over 5 million, then CNN at 3.4 million.

Among viewers 25-54 at 10, NBC won with 1.77 million, just ahead of Fox News’ 1.71 million and CNN’s 1.04 million.

The Democrats take their turn with a convention in Philadelphia July 25-28.

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.