FNC, CNN Win Iowa Caucus Coverage

Viewer interest in this year’s Iowa Caucuses races was especially high, according to early ratings returns from Monday night, with roughly 10.2 million watching one of the three cable news networks in primetime — roughly double the total of four years ago.

Fox News Channel was the most-watched cable newser in primetime, eclipsing network records with 4.46 million viewers for the event, according to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen. It was followed by CNN (3.73 million) and MSNBC (1.97 million), bringing the three-network total to 10.16 million viewers. By comparison, one week earlier the same three networks combined for 5.84 million viewers during primetime.

Variety reports in the key news demo of adults 25-54, CNN set an all-time Iowa Caucus primetime record Monday with 1.39 million, followed by FNC (1.16 million) and MSNBC (592,000). The week-over-week gains were even larger here, with the three networks more than doubling their combined 25-54 deliveries of the prior Monday (3.14 million vs. 1.37 million).