CableTV News: FNC Tops CNN, MSNBC Combined

• MSNBC Taking Tank

MSNBC took it on the chin during the first quarter of 2015, shedding big chunks of its audience while Fox News, CNN and Headline News all took advantage and gained ground.

Fox News remained the dominant news network, especially in primetime, while CNN solidified its standing as the No. 2 newsie and made some demo gains on a total-day basis.

According to Nielsen estimates for the Dec. 29, 2014-March 29, 2015 quarter, Fox News cruised to a primetime victory in the key news demo of adults 25-54. It averaged 328,000 viewers nightly (up 9% vs. a year ago) and was followed by CNN (192,000, up 11%), MSNBC (136,000, down 40%) and HLN (130,000, up 11%).

CNN has now beaten MSNBC in primetime for four consecutive quarters. And for MSNBC, whose “Rachel Maddow Show” and “Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” had their worst showing on record, this is its lowest-rated quarter since Q2 in 2006.

Fox News was again especially dominant on weeknights, where its average audience of 409,000 adults 25-54 was larger than CNN (207,000) and MSNBC (131,000) combined.

Top 5 Programs:

Total Viewers: The O'Reilly Factor (2,836,000); The Kelly File (2,246,000); The Five (2,160,000); Special Report w/ Bret Baier (2,079,000); On the Record w/ Greta Van Susteren (1,862,000).

Adults 25-54: The O'Reilly Factor (509,000); The Kelly File (413,000); The Five (338,000); Special Report w/ Bret Baier (333,000), On the Record w/ Greta Van Susteren (315,000).'=