Weekly Cable Ratings: Fox News Outlasts TBS, TNT's March Madness Finals Coverage

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News network holds strong on total day basis

David McCormack #33 of the Kansas Jayhawks shoots over Brady Manek #45 of the North Carolina Tar Heels during the second half of the 2022 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament National Championship game at Caesars Superdome on April 04, 2022 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
David McCormack of the Kansas Jayhawks shoots over Brady Manek of the North Carolina Tar Heels during the second half of the 2022 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament National Championship game. (Image credit: Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

Fox News Channel kept its place atop the weekly primetime basic-cable ratings, defeating March Madness-infused TBS for the second straight week.

Fox News averaged 2.3 million viewers in primetime for the week of April 4-10 to finish first, ahead of TBS (1.5 million viewers) and TNT (1.2 million). Both TBS and TNT were aided by the combined 17 million viewers who tuned into the networks’ simulcast with truTV of the April 4 Kanasas-North Carolina NCAA Men‘s Basketball Tournament title game, according to Nielsen.

HGTV and ESPN finished tied for fourth place with 1.1 million viewers, while MSNBC grabbed the sixth spot with 1 million viewers. TLC (935,000 viewers), Hallmark Channel (853,000), INSP (817,000) and Food Network (761,000) rounded out the top 10 most-watched cable networks.

Fox News won its 15th straight weekly total-day ratings crown with an average of 1.5 million viewers. Finishing well off the pace were MSNBC (660,000 viewers), ESPN (654,000), HGTV (592,000), and CNN (586,000), Nielsen said. ▪️

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.