FOX Ratings Winner Covering Clinton Testimony

Hillary Clinton

The media went full bore covering Hillary Clinton's appearance in front of the House Benghazi Committee on Thursday, attracting nonstop coverage from nearly every news organization. And Politico reports the ratings show that it paid off.

CNN, MSNBC and Al Jazeera America carried all 11 hours of Clinton's testimony live and mostly commercial free (except for breaks), a feat only reserved for the most important breaking news events.

Fox News carried the hearings live and commercial free until early primetime, cutting away at 5 p.m. for "The Five," though it kept the hearing on a split screen for most of the show. Fox Business, CNBC, HLN and Bloomberg carried large portions of the testimony throughout the day as well, though they also cut off by the afternoon.

Despite the length of the hearing, there was clear interest from cable-news viewers. Dayside shows that typically draw comparably modest ratings instead drew millions.

Overall, in total day, Fox News averaged 1.6 million total viewers, MSNBC averaged 778,000 total viewers and CNN averaged 690,000 viewers, according to Nielsen. In primetime, Fox averaged 2.5 million viewers, MSNBC drew 1.4 million and CNN 1.3 million.

C-SPAN, which arguably had the most comprehensive analysis, is not rated by Nielsen, so ratings are not available.