TV Ratings: Fox News Channel Leads Busy Monday Night

Monday was one of the more competitive nights for linear TV in recent memory. 

TV Newser reports the TV news networks televised the 2024 Iowa GOP caucuses live; Fox Broadcasting televised the 2024 Primetime Emmys and ESPN/ABC televised the final NFL Wild Card Playoff game of the weekend between the Philadelphia Eagles and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

When it came to live coverage of the Iowa caucuses, it was Fox News Channel which proved dominant in the ratings. Already the primary TV news source for Republicans, FNC extended its lead over the cable news competition on Monday night. According to live plus same day data from Nielsen, Fox News more than quadrupled CNN’s average primetime audience (2.835 million vs. 688k) and more than doubled the network in the key A25-54 demo (402k vs. 194k A25-54.) Additionally, FNC more than doubled MSNBC in both categories (2.835 million vs. 1.15 million; 402k vs. 142.5k).

All three major cable newsers called the 2024 Iowa Republican Caucuses for Donald Trump at around 8:30 p.m. ET. In that 8 p.m. hour, Fox averaged 2.9 million total viewers and nearly 428k A25-54 viewers, while MSNBC averaged 1.19 million total viewers and more than 143k A25-54 viewers; CNN averaged 848k total viewers and 224k A25-54 viewers.

CNN beat MSNBC in A25-54 viewing, while MSNBC beat CNN in average total viewers; a frequent cable news trend.