Midterm Ratings: Fox Wins, Broadcast in Close Second

CNN and MSNBC don't even come close.

By Sean Kerrigan
Thursday, November 4, 2010


Covering a major Republican victory in the midterms this year, The Fox News Channel crushed its cable news competitors ratings at CNN and MSNBC and narrowly defeated the three major broadcast networks during their 10pm election coverage.

When ratings were at their highest during the 8 and 9pm hours, Fox News had nearly three times the audience of CNN and  three and a half times the audience of MSNBC.

The broadcast arm of NBC came in second to Fox with about 600,000 fewer viewers, but had slightly more viewers in the key demographic (people 25-54 which largely determines ad revenue).  It should be noted that the broadcast stations only covered the election from 10 to about 11 pm.

8PM
Fox News
CNN
MSNBC

9PM
Fox News
CNN
MSNBC

10PM
Fox News
NBC
CBS
ABC
CNN
MSNBC

6,770,000
2,202,000
1,805,000


7,167,000
2,476,000
1,991,000


6,935,000
6,268,000
5,862,000
5,525,000
2,592,000
2,040,000



Now look what you've done.  You've got him all excited.


As a point of reference, on a normal night at 8pm, Fox will get a little less than 4 million viewers, MSNBC will get about 1 million viewers and CNN will get about 500,000 viewers if they're lucky.

Further Reading:
Neilson Ratings for Cable News
Neilson Ratings for Broadcast News
NYT Blog on the Election Coverage, Media Hypocrisy
NYT: Fox Gets Most Viewers Ever in a Midterm Election


Exclusive Features

What President Obama Can Learn From JFK
Facts Are Stubborn Things
Ted Sorensen, The Nation's Peacekeeper
In Defense of Dick Morris
The Real Reason Olbermann Got Canned
Can Triangulation Save Obama?
How to Interpret the Bush Legacy
Insanity Rising: Author Advocates Violent Revolution on MSNBC

Other Stories

A "Political Picture of the Year' Contender?
Midterm Ratings: Fox Wins, Broadcast in Close Second

Print Archives

Call for Unity in African Nation
Resistance Continues on Rt. 202 Construction Plan







































Contact                                             Log in


Copyright © 2010 SeanKerrigan.com.  All rights reserved.