Topline
Fox News regained control of the No. 1 primetime cable spot last week, according to Nielsen—ending MSNBC’s rare stint as the nation’s biggest cable network earlier this month, a sudden surge for the left-leaning network fueled by former President Donald Trump’s federal indictment and Tucker Carlson’s abrupt departure from Fox News.
Key Facts
Fox News averaged 1,064,000 viewers across the entire day from June 12 to June 18, with MSNBC averaging 856,000 viewers and CNN averaging 628,000, according to data released by Nielsen—extending Fox News’ streak as the top-rated cable TV channel in total-day ratings, a position it has held all year.
Fox News also outpaced MSNBC in primetime last week, averaging 1,536,000 viewers to MSNBC’s 1,397,000 and CNN’s 800,000, after MSNBC dethroned Fox News in primetime a week earlier amid coverage of Trump’s indictment.
The top four programs on cable TV last week included three showings of Fox News talk show The Five and one slot of Hannity—the former of which took the top spot, with an average of nearly 3 million viewers on Tuesday evening, hours after Trump arrived at a Miami federal courthouse to to be arraigned on 37 criminal counts.
MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show—which airs Mondays—rounded out The Five and Hannity at the No. 5 spot and pulled in 2.6 million average viewers.
Trump’s arraignment boosted daytime cable ratings, with MSNBC’s 3 p.m. show on Tuesday scoring more viewers than its Fox News counterpart (2.3 million vs. 1.7 million), but Fox News aired Trump’s post-arraignment speech live in the 8 p.m. slot, earning 2.413 million viewers compared to 2.356 million on MSNBC, which did not air Trump’s speech.
Even on arraignment night, news didn’t dominate in every time slot: The final game of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals started on TNT at around the same time as Fox and MSNBC’s 8 p.m. arraignment coverage, and managed to score 2.468 million viewers, higher average ratings than both programs.
Tangent
Political commentator Geraldo Rivera is departing from The Five, citing “tension that goes beyond editorial differences” in a Wednesday interview with The Associated Press. Rivera was one of the shows rotating liberal voices and will have his last scheduled appearance on the talk show next week.
Key Background
MSNBC managed to grab the No. 1 primetime spot from Fox News early this month when it capitalized on coverage of Trump’s then-incoming arraignment on charges related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents following his presidency. MSNBC’s narrow overtake of Fox News in early June snapped the conservative network’s 120-week No. 1 primetime streak. The streak was broken not long after Fox News removed former primetime host Tucker Carlson from its programming—a shakeup that led to a drop in viewership. Carlson’s show, Tucker Carlson Tonight, was one of Fox News’ most popular shows during its seven-year run, but faced near-constant controversy due to Carlson’s incendiary remarks. The former Fox News host now runs an independent pre-recorded show on Twitter, tallying five episodes as of Thursday.
MSNBC Beats Fox News In Primetime Last Week Amid Trump Indictment—Ending Fox’s Years-Long Streak (Forbes)
Trump Arraignment: Here’s When He’ll Appear In Court—And Why You’ll Have To Wait To Hear About It (Forbes)
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