Cable news defibrillator: Donald Trump
Fox News soars to first-ever quarterly primetime win
September 30, 2015

A few months ago The Washington Post wrote a story with the clickbait headline, “Has prime time faded for cable TV news?”
It detailed the double-digit percentage declines for cable news over the past six years and wondered if the medium could ever rebound.
Oh what a difference a Donald Trump presidential candidacy makes.
Cable news rebounded in a big way during third quarter, boosted by huge interest in Trump’s unexpected and incredibly popular candidacy, which lifted Fox News Channel and CNN to record ratings.
FNC finished as the No. 1 network in primetime among total viewers during third quarter, the first time it has ever managed to top all the cable competition in a quarter.
Fox News averaged 1.952 million total viewers in primetime, according to Nielsen, up 10 percent from last year and topping ESPN, USA and TNT.
And CNN, while still trailing its rival by more than 1 million viewers, shot up 36 percent in primetime, to an average 814,000.
Both also saw big gains in the key adults 25-54 demo, with FNC up 28 percent, to 395,000, and CNN growing 36 percent to 251,000.
Even MSBNC, which did not carry a debate, was up 13 percent in primetime viewership, to 625,000.
The two Republican presidential debates on FNC and CNN, which both averaged more than 23 million total viewers, were easily the most-watched programs on cable during third quarter.
The high interest will likely continue through the fall, with Trump’s candidacy and his personal popularity remaining high.
The frontrunner continues to feud with FNC, which has perked up its ratings even further. In fact, “The Kelly File” had its strongest quarter ever and “The O’Reilly Factor” had its best quarter in nearly three years, boosted by the Trump feud.
***
In cable ratings for the week ended Sept. 27:
Top five networks in primetime (18-49s): ESPN, USA, TBS, FX, Adult Swim.
Top five networks in primetime (total viewers): Adult Swim, ESPN, Nick at Nite, USA, Nickelodeon.
Top five total-day networks (total viewers): ESPN, Disney Channel, Fox News Channel, USA, HGTV.
Top cable news networks in primetime (total viewers): Fox News Channel, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, HLN, FBN, Al Jazeera America.
Top five cable news programs (total viewers): 1. Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor” (Wednesday, 8 p.m.); 2. Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor” (Thursday, 8 p.m.); 3. Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor” (Monday, 8 p.m.); 4. Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor” (Tuesday, 8 p.m.); 5. Fox News Channel’s “The Kelly File” (Thursday, 9 p.m.)
Top movie (total viewers): Disney Channel’s “Toy Story 3,” (Sunday, 7:40 p.m.) 3.53 million.
Top sporting event (total viewers): ESPN’s “Monday Night Football: New York Jets/Indianapolis” (Monday, 8:15 p.m.) 12.48 million.
Show on the rise: OWN’s “The Haves and the Have Nots,” Tuesday, 9 p.m. The drama averaged 3.71 million total viewers, up 18 percent from 3.14 million the previous week.
Show on the decline: NFL Network’s “Thursday Night Football,” Thursday, 8:27 p.m. The cable telecast of Redskins-Giants averaged 3.23 million total viewers, down 22 percent from the 4.16 million the previous week’s game between the Chiefs and Broncos averaged.
TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS |
||||
Rank |
Primetime |
Total Day |
||
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
1 |
ESPN |
3103 |
DSNY |
1148 |
2 |
DSNY |
1763 |
NICK |
1109 |
3 |
FOXN |
1750 |
ESPN |
1087 |
4 |
USA |
1570 |
FOXN |
1073 |
5 |
HGTV |
1226 |
ADSM |
1073 |
6 |
HIST |
1179 |
USA |
888 |
7 |
TBSC |
1174 |
TOON |
837 |
8 |
ADSM |
1066 |
NAN |
772 |
9 |
FX |
1063 |
HGTV |
738 |
10 |
AMC |
981 |
TNT |
698 |
11 |
FOOD |
936 |
CNN |
629 |
12 |
DISC |
902 |
HIST |
627 |
13 |
TNT |
874 |
ID |
618 |
14 |
LIFE |
834 |
FOOD |
535 |
15 |
NAN |
821 |
DISC |
526 |
16 |
ID |
818 |
FX |
524 |
17 |
SYFY |
797 |
TBSC |
513 |
18 |
CNN |
775 |
DSJR |
494 |
19 |
OWN |
758 |
AMC |
486 |
20 |
MSNB |
697 |
MSNB |
463 |
21 |
HALL |
669 |
A&E |
454 |
22 |
A&E |
657 |
HALL |
451 |
23 |
TLC |
638 |
LIFE |
404 |
24 |
VH1 |
612 |
SYFY |
388 |
25 |
FAM |
599 |
TLC |
376 |
(1) Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day. |
TOP 25 CABLE PROGRAMS |
|||
Rank |
Program |
Net |
(000) |
1 |
NFL REGULAR SEASON L |
ESPN |
12479 |
2 |
FEAR THE WALKING DEAD |
AMC |
6655 |
3 |
HAVES AND THE HAVE NOTS |
OWN |
3710 |
4 |
TOY STORY 3 |
DSNY |
3529 |
5 |
TOY STORY 2 |
DSNY |
3433 |
6 |
WWE ENTERTAINMENT |
USA |
3420 |
7 |
WWE ENTERTAINMENT |
USA |
3368 |
8 |
WWE ENTERTAINMENT |
USA |
3260 |
9 |
NFLN THU NT FOOTBALL |
NFLN |
3226 |
10 |
COLLEGE FOOTBALL AFT L |
ESPN |
3204 |
11 |
SPORTSCENTER: L |
ESPN |
3120 |
12 |
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PRIME L |
ESPN |
3112 |
13 |
TOY STORY 2 |
DSNY |
3097 |
14 |
COLL FTBL SCOREBOARD L |
ESPN |
3087 |
15 |
THE OREILLY FACTOR |
FOXNC |
3026 |
16 |
NASCAR SPRINT CUP RACE L |
NBCSN |
2944 |
17 |
IF LOVING YOU IS WRONG |
OWN |
2901 |
18 |
TOY STORY THAT TIME FORGO |
DSNY |
2816 |
19 |
THE OREILLY FACTOR |
FOXNC |
2767 |
20 |
MOUNTAIN MEN |
HIST |
2765 |
21 |
THE OREILLY FACTOR |
FOXNC |
2743 |
21 |
NFLN THU NT FBALL |
NFLN |
2649 |
23 |
GIRL MEETS WORLD |
DSNY |
2623 |
24 |
LOVE & HIP HOP HLLYWD 2 |
VH1 |
2562 |
25 |
THE OREILLY FACTOR |
FOXNC |
2520 |
-Source: Nielsen |
TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS |
||||
Rank |
Primetime |
Total Day |
||
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
1 |
ESPN |
1330 |
ADSM |
633 |
2 |
USA |
585 |
ESPN |
534 |
3 |
TBSC |
569 |
NAN |
370 |
4 |
FX |
551 |
USA |
329 |
5 |
ADSM |
548 |
NICK |
316 |
6 |
AMC |
511 |
DSNY |
307 |
7 |
DSNY |
474 |
TOON |
290 |
8 |
FOOD |
406 |
TBSC |
273 |
9 |
VH1 |
393 |
FX |
263 |
10 |
HGTV |
368 |
TNT |
241 |
11 |
SYFY |
361 |
ID |
233 |
12 |
DISC |
354 |
HGTV |
225 |
13 |
LIFE |
337 |
FOOD |
217 |
14 |
HIST |
335 |
DISC |
207 |
15 |
FAM |
321 |
AMC |
204 |
16 |
NFLN |
313 |
A&E |
192 |
17 |
OWN |
292 |
HIST |
185 |
18 |
TNT |
291 |
SPK |
177 |
19 |
CMDY |
290 |
MTV |
177 |
20 |
BRAV |
286 |
SYFY |
174 |
21 |
SPK |
281 |
FAM |
173 |
22 |
ID |
270 |
LIFE |
170 |
23 |
NAN |
266 |
CMDY |
167 |
24 |
MTV |
262 |
VH1 |
161 |
25 |
A&E |
252 |
TLC |
144 |
(1) Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day. |
Tags: cable news ratings, cnn, donald trump, fox news channel, presidential debates, ratings cable news, trump
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