Weekly Cable Ratings: Fox News Sweeps Primetime, Total Day Charts

By R. Thomas Umstead
published

Marks 12th consecutive weekly win on both charts

Fox News' 'Gutfeld!'
Fox News' 'Gutfeld!' (Image credit: Fox News Channel)

 Fox News easily topped the weekly primetime and total day charts last week for the first full week of May.

Fox News averaged 2.1 million viewers for the week of May 3 to May 9, topping MSNBC’s 1.5 million viewers and HGTV’s 1.2 million watchers, according to Nielsen. CNN finished fourth with 921,000, followed by History’s 873,000 viewers.

Rounding out the top 10 most watched networks in primetime for the week were ESPN (861,000 viewers), TNT (830,000), Discovery Channel (809,000), INSP (803,000) and TBS (802,000). 

On the total day front, Fox News averaged 1.1 million viewers -- the only cable network to average more than 1 million viewers for the week -- to finish first. It marks the 12th straight week Fox News has topped both the primetime and total day charts. MSNBC, HGTV, CNN and Investigative Discovery all finished in among the top five ranked networks in the category, said Nielsen. 

Read Also: Cable News Networks Dominate April Monthly Total Day Chart

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.