Tucker Carlson Makes History, Earns Highest Cable News Ratings Ever
Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show broke records in October as Fox stomped the competition, according to ratings data compiled by Nielsen.
Fox’s showing made it 226 consecutive months that the network has been the top-rated cable news channel in total day and prime-time viewers.
Fox had four of the five top-rated cable shows in October, according to Forbes.
Carlson’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight” led the way with 5.359 million average viewers. That total set a record for the “highest-rated monthly viewership of any program in the history of cable news,” the network said in a media release.
Sean Hannity was right behind Carlson with 5.119 million viewers. The Fox show “The Five” was third with 4.102 million viewers and Laura Ingraham’s “The Ingraham Angle was fourth with 4.065 million viewers.
MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show,” at 3.696 million viewers, was the only non-Fox show in the top five.
“In the A25-54 demographic, Tucker Carlson Tonight hit yet another milestone as the first primetime program to reach 1 million viewers in the 25-54 demo since September 2008,” Fox News’ media release said.
The network added that Carlson and Hannity marked nine straight months of averaging more than 4 million total viewers. Hannity averaged 982,000 viewers in the 25-54 age group and 657,000 viewers in the 18-49 demographic.
Many celebrated Fox’s achievement on Twitter.
Fox News has the highest ratings in all of cable. Not only are the not dying, they have never been stronger.
— MC (@mitchellfoxtec) October 27, 2020
Fox News leads way in news channel October ratings race. Prime time:
FNC: 4,900,000 total viewers – up 83% (971,000 in 25-54 – up 139%)
CNN: 2,462,000 total viewers – up 98% (709,000 in 25-54 – up 116%)
MSNBC: 2,700,000 total viewers – up 38% (475,000 in 25-54 – up 45%)— Joe Flint (@JBFlint) October 27, 2020
Fox News continued to be dominant throughout the day.
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“In total day, FNC garnered 2.3 million viewers, 428,000 with A25-54 and 274,000 in the A18-49 demo, holding a 65 percent advantage over CNN in total viewers,” the network said.
“In primetime, FNC delivered 4.9 million viewers, 971,000 in the 25-54 demographic, and 670,000 in the A18-49 demo, and widened its advantage over CNN by 99 percent.”
Further, the network had the top shows in all of cable during its special coverage of the two presidential debates.
In breaking the 4 million total viewers mark, “The Ingraham Angle” also made cable news history, becoming the “highest-rated primetime program” hosted by a woman, Fox added.
Fox noted that its prime-time shows are on the upswing, with “Tucker Carlson Tonight” up 66 percent over last October in terms of total viewers while recording a 93 percent increase among viewers ages 25-54.
Hannity’s audience was up 37 percent overall and up 50 percent in the 25-54 age group. Ingraham’s overall audience was up by 42 percent, with a 60 percent increase in the 25-54 age group.
Fox also dominated early in the day.
“Fox & Friends First,” which covers the 4 a.m. to 6 a.m. Eastern Time slot on weekdays, won its time slot with an average of 737,000 total viewers, while “Fox & Friends,” which runs from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., averaged 1.9 million viewers, far outpacing CNN and MSNBC’s shows that air during that same three-hour slot.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
