Weekly Cable Ratings: Midterm Elections Coverage Carries Fox News in Primetime

Fox News
(Image credit: Fox News)

The midterm elections proved to be a ratings boondoggle for Fox News, which swept both the primetime and total day charts last week.

Fox News averaged 3.2 million viewers for the week of November 7 to November 13, stopping ESPN’s two-week winning streak, according to Nielsen. Fox News drew the most viewers across 13 networks providing election day coverage on November 8, drawing 7.4 million total viewers in primetime, reported Nielsen.

ESPN finished second for the week with 2.2 million views, followed by MSNBC with 1.7 million viewers.

Paramount Network -- bolstered by the more than 8 million viewers who tuned into the November 13 fifth season debut of its original drama series Yellowstone -- finished fourth for the week with 1.4 million viewers, while Hallmark Channel rode its holiday-themed programming to a fifth place tie with CNN with 1.2 million watchers.

Also: 'Yellowstone' Season 5 Has Year's Biggest Scripted Premiere with 12.1 Million L+SD Viewers

HGTV finished seventh with 737,000 viewers, followed by TLC (713,000 viewers), Food Network (681,000) and TBS (661,000).

Fox News extended its total day streak to 45 weeks with an average of 1.9 million viewers, followed by MSNBC (986,000 viewers), ESPN (818,000) CNN (767,000) and Hallmark Channel (670,000), said Nielsen.■  

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.