Weekly Cable Ratings: Fox News Holds Off TNT To Win Primetime Race

By R. Thomas Umstead
last updated

Fox News garners seventh straight win in total day

Zach LaVine #8 of Team Durant guards LeBron James #6 of Team LeBron during the 2022 NBA All-Star Game at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on February 20, 2022 in Cleveland, Ohio.
The NBA All-Star Game powered TNT to a second-place primetime finish for the week. (Image credit: Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)

TNT’s NBA All-Star Game audience wasn’t big enough to help dethrone Fox News Channel from the top of Nielsen‘s weekly primetime ratings charts. 

Fox News averaged 2.4 million viewers in primetime during the week of February 14 to February 20 to top the chart for the fifth straight week, said Nielsen. TNT, propelled by its coverage of NBA All-Star Weekend, moved into second place with 2 million viewers. 

MSNBC and HGTV tied for third place with 1 million viewers, followed by USA Network with 997,000 viewers. Hallmark Channel finished sixth with 959,000 viewers, followed by History (926,000), TLC (899,000), INSP (861,000) and ESPN (841,000).

Fox News blew out the rest of the field on a 24-hour basis, averaging 1.5 million viewers in winning its seventh straight week. MSNBC finished a distant second with 659,000, followed by USA Network (627,000 viewers), HGTV (575,000) and TNT (559,000), Nielsen reported. ■

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.