Summary
- Fox News’ primetime midterm election night coverage swamped its cable competition, while also topping CBS News.
- However, viewership dropped as the blue wave became more apparent, leading to CNN topping cable news viewership from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.
- Fox News also led the way in social media engagement the day following the election.
Fox News had a far better election night than the Republicans.
The cable news network’s primetime coverage of the midterm elections swamped its cable competition, while also topping CBS News.
“Fox News Democracy 26,” co-anchored by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, peaked with 4.6 million viewers during the 9:00 p.m. ET hour Nov. 3. Overall, Fox News averaged 4.3 million viewers in primetime, compared to CNN’s 4.1 million and MS NOW’s 3.7 million. It also led in the hours leading up to the polls closing.
However, Fox News viewers did abandon ship after the blue wave hit, and by 11 p.m., CNN and MS NOW were neck-and-neck for the top spot. According to Adweek, CNN ended up leading its competitors between 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Meanwhile, “CBS Evening News” delivered its lowest-rated coverage of a midterm election in the 21st century, with 3.8 million viewers and 686,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo.
Fox News also dominated coverage of the election on social media the following day. On Nov. 4, the network ranked No. 1 against its news competitors in social interactions across Facebook, X, Instagram, and TikTok, drawing 11.8 million interactions. This outpaced even The New York Times and NBC News.
Overall, for the week beginning Nov. 2, the outlet continued its cable news dominance, nabbing the top spot for the 43rd consecutive week. Fox News averaged 1.9 million viewers in primetime and 1.1 million viewers across the total day and saw week-to-week growth in both total viewers and the 25-54 demo across both dayparts.
Meanwhile, Greg Gutfeld continues to be the king of late night and beyond.
“Gutfeld!” averaged 1.8 million total viewers, spanking Jimmy Fallon and “The Tonight Show,” (1.3 million viewers), ABC’s Nightline (1.1 million viewers), “NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers” (895,000 viewers), and CBS’ replacement for Stephen Colbert, “Comics Unleashed” (843,000 viewers).
Meanwhile, “The Five,” featuring Gutfeld, continued its run as the most popular show on cable news, averaging between 3.3 to 4 million viewers a day last week.
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[ H/T The Daily Signal ]
