The 2016 presidential election cycle has been very good to cable news networks.
Fox News Channel delivered its most watched quarter ever in total-day viewership. FNC ranked No. 1 in basic cable for Q3 primetime and total-day total viewers. Despite the network’s internecine dramas, FNC viewers stayed loyal, to the tune of 2.44M primetime viewers, 459K of them in the news demo, and 1.41M total-day total viewers, 276K of which fell in the key sales age bracket.
This marks the second quarter in a calendar year FNC has notched the No. 1 spot in both dayparts, which is a first for the network. Among news networks, it’s FNC’s 59th quarter on top in primetime and total-day total viewers.
CNN, meanwhile, clocked its most watched quarter in eight years, among both total viewers and adults 25-54 in Q3 2016, which officially ended Sunday. In primetime, it was CNN’s second-best quarter in eight years, in both metrics, behind only Q4 2008. In primetime CNN logged 1.22M viewers and 399K news demo viewers; its total-day tally for the quarter stood at 787K total viewers and 240K news demo viewers.
MSNBC drew its biggest total-day audience ever in the third quarter of 2016, averaging 676K viewers. MSNBC also squeaked past CNN in weekday primetime viewers: 1.224M to 1.216M. Among that network’s bright spots, Brian Williams’ election-cycle pop-up program The 11th Hour, launched in early September, has logged 1.06M viewers, leading CNN in overall audience, though CNN Tonight tops in the demo.