Friday, December 16, 2016

Fox News Finishes Year As Most-Watched Basic Cable Net


For the first time in its 20-year history, Fox News Channel will finish 2016 as the most-watched basic cable network in primetime and total day, according to deadline.com.

Fueled by mostly nonstop coverage of Donald Trump’s race to the White House, FNC locked up the wins both in primetime and in total day, and every hour on the network’s lineup logged double-digit jumps compared to 2015. Fox News bagged its biggest audiences ever both in primetime and in total day with 2.4 million and 1.4 million viewers, respectively.

Adding to FNC’s victory-lap fun, the network closes out 2016 as the fifth-most-watched primetime in all of television, behind only Big Four broadcasters networks NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox, in order. FNC noted in particular that it beat ESPN, which ranked sixth for the year, also besting USA — though, of course, ESPN is a “sports” network not an “entertainment” net.

It goes without saying FNC logged larger crowds than its cable news competitors in overall audience; it also bested them in the key news 25-54 demo. Maybe more surprising to some: The network’s The O’Reilly Factor is the No. 1 ranked cable news program for the year, in overall audience, among 25-54 year olds – and with 18-49 year olds.

Among cable news programs, FNC secured 14 of the top 15 programs in total viewers. Bill O’Reilly’s 3.3M viewers edged out No. 2 ranked The Kelly Factor’s 2.7M. While on her book cum contract-ending-soon tour of the media landscape, Megyn Kelly has claimed hers is the No. 1 news program on cable, explaining O’Reilly’s program is an “opinion” show. Nielsen does not make that distinction; where Nielsen comes from, The O’Reilly Factor is filed under: Megyn Kelly’s Lead-In.

No comments:

Post a Comment