Weekly Cable Ratings: Fox News Garners Primetime, Total Day Ratings Honors

By R. Thomas Umstead
published

USA Network rides Olympics coverage to second-place finish

Winter Olympics
USA's Nathan Chen at the Winter Olympics (Image credit: NBC Sports)

Fox News held off a strong charge by Winter Olympics-fueled USA Network to continue its run at the top of the cable ratings charts, according to Nielsen.

Fox News averaged 2.5 million viewers in primetime during the week of January 31-February 6 to take its third consecutive primetime ratings crown, Nielsen reported. USA Network, on the strength of its Winter Olympics coverage, finished second with 1.3 million viewers.

MSNBC was third for the week with 1.2 million viewers followed by HGTV with 1.1 million viewers and ESPN with 999,000 watchers. TLC (942,000 viewers), INSP (937,000), Hallmark Channel (834,000), History (817,000) and Food Network (746,000) rounded out the top 10 most watched networks in primetime.

Fox News topped the total day charts for the fifth consecutive week with 1.5 million viewers, followed by USA Network (811,000), MSNBC (690,000), HGTV (628,000), and ESPN (550,000), said Nielsen. ■ 

R. Thomas Umstead
R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.