Prime Time Cable News Ratings: CNN Crushes The Competition As Fox News Struggles Despite Start of New Show

  


The following is a table featuring the prime time cable news ratings from Monday, January 18 through Wednesday, January 20, followed by discussion. Let us know what you think by leaving a reaction and a comment!



Network

Day

A25-54

A18-49

A18-34

Total viewers

Presidential Inauguration (9pm)

CNN

Wednesday

2.12

1.60

0.97

7.060

Presidential Inauguration (8pm)

CNN

Wednesday

1.81

1.34

0.84

6.224

Presidential Inauguration (7pm)

CNN

Wednesday

1.78

1.33

0.80

6.074

Presidential Inauguration (10pm)

CNN

Wednesday

1.63

1.21

0.71

5.299

Celebrating America (8:30pm)

MSNBC

Wednesday

1.03

0.71

0.37

4.518

Cuomo Prime Time

CNN

Tuesday

1.01

0.77

0.44

3.936

CNN Tonight (10pm)

CNN

Tuesday

1.01

0.72

0.33

3.607

Anderson Cooper 360

CNN

Tuesday

0.98

0.70

0.41

4.089

MSNBC Press Conference (7:07pm)

MSNBC

Wednesday

0.94

0.62

0.35

4.425

Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell

MSNBC

Wednesday

0.91

0.61

0.25

4.201

Erin Burnett OutFront

CNN

Tuesday

0.89

0.64

0.37

3.634

NBC News: Inauguration Prime Time

MSNBC

Wednesday

0.87

0.57

0.29

4.090

Presidential Inauguration (7:39pm)

MSNBC

Wednesday

0.86

0.56

0.32

4.019

Rachel Maddow Show

MSNBC

Tuesday

0.83

0.51

0.17

4.869

Anderson Cooper 360

CNN

Monday

0.67

0.44

0.21

3.125

Rachel Maddow Show

MSNBC

Monday

0.62

0.36

0.12

4.083

CNN Tonight (10pm)

CNN

Monday

0.61

0.39

0.14

2.410

Cuomo Prime Time

CNN

Monday

0.61

0.38

0.18

2.899

Erin Burnett OutFront

CNN

Monday

0.60

0.39

0.17

2.772

Tucker Carlson Tonight

FOX News

Wednesday

0.59

0.40

0.18

3.714

The ReidOut (10pm)

MSNBC

Tuesday

0.54

0.35

0.12

3.406

Tucker Carlson Tonight

FOX News

Tuesday

0.53

0.29

0.15

3.644

All In with Chris Hayes

MSNBC

Tuesday

0.52

0.32

0.13

2.996

Tucker Carlson Tonight

FOX News

Monday

0.48

0.30

0.13

3.459

The ReidOut (7pm)

MSNBC

Tuesday

0.47

0.29

0.13

2.856

Hannity

FOX News

Wednesday

0.46

0.32

0.11

3.196

Hannity

FOX News

Tuesday

0.43

0.24

0.13

3.045

Fox News Primetime

FOX News

Wednesday

0.42

0.27

0.14

2.157

Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell

MSNBC

Monday

0.42

0.23

0.09

3.325

The Ingraham  Angle

FOX News

Tuesday

0.40

0.24

0.15

2.399

The Ingraham  Angle

FOX News

Monday

0.36

0.24

0.13

2.313

The ReidOut

MSNBC

Monday

0.36

0.22

0.11

2.315

Hannity

FOX News

Monday

0.36

0.21

0.10

2.992

All In with Chris Hayes

MSNBC

Monday

0.33

0.20

0.09

2.392

The Ingraham  Angle

FOX News

Wednesday

0.23

2.394

Fox News Primetime

FOX News

Monday

0.16

1.884

Fox News Primetime

FOX News

Tuesday

0.15

2.012

Greg Kelly Reports

Newsmax TV

Monday

0.11

0.833

Greg Kelly Reports

Newsmax TV

Tuesday

0.08

0.840

Stinchfield

Newsmax TV

Monday

0.08

0.485

Greg Kelly Reports

Newsmax TV

Wednesday

0.07

0.752

Stinchfield

Newsmax TV

Tuesday

0.06

0.559

Stinchfield

Newsmax TV

Wednesday

0.06

0.499

Rob Schmitt Tonight

Newsmax TV

Tuesday

0.05

0.397

Rob Schmitt Tonight

Newsmax TV

Monday

Rob Schmitt Tonight

Newsmax TV

Wednesday


CNN was first place in every demographic for the coverage of President Biden’s Inauguration. In fact, they roughly doubled MSNBC’s second place ratings in A25-54, A18-49, and A18-34. This should come as no surprise, as CNN usually has higher ratings than the other networks for major events. 

Fox News Primetime had an abysmal launch in the 7pm time slot for its first two nights, with both airings being far and away the lowest-rated hours across FOX News, CNN, and MSNBC in A18-49 and neither placing in their respective night’s top 50 cable programs in that demographic. Following weeks will give a clearer idea as to who the network may pick as the permanent host, and if eliminating a news show hour in favor of an opinion show hour was worth it. 

The biggest story of this week arguably comes from Monday’s ratings. All networks were fair game for first place, and CNN won it comfortably. They now enter the Biden Administration as the network to beat.

Share this

Related Posts

Previous
Next Post »