Fox News Channel: Most-Watched

Fox News was the most-watched broadcast or cable news network on Thursday for the release of special counsel Robert Mueller's report, according to The Hill citing early reports from Nielsen Media Research.

Fox averaged 2.8 million total viewers from the time period starting with Attorney General William Barr's press conference at 9:30 a.m. through 1 p.m., about two hours after the report's release.

MSNBC was second with 2.01 million total viewers, while CNN finished third with 1.17 million viewers during the same time period.

In the key demographic of 25- to 54-year-olds, Fox News was first with 441,000 viewers. MSNBC was second with 307,000 in the category and CNN third with 286,000.

Prime-time numbers also showed Fox News on top in delivering an average of 3.2 million viewers on Thursday night.

MSNBC was second with 2.57 million viewers and CNN third with 1.11 million.

In the younger demographic, Fox News registered 591,000 viewers in the category, while MSNBC had 445,000 and CNN had 315,000 viewers.

TV Newser graphic

The top five cable news programs for Thursday were Fox's "Hannity" at 3.63 million viewers, followed by MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show" with 3.23 million and Fox's "Tucker Carlson Tonight" with 3.15 million.

Fox's "The Five" and "The Ingraham Angle" round out the top five with approximately 2.92 million viewers each.