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Thursday, August 26, 2021

Breaking Afghan Coverage: Americans Watched FOX News


Americans flocked to Fox News Channel last week as the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan unfolded and the network finished No. 1 in all of television among primetime viewers, the news channel is reporting

Fox News averaged 2.98 million viewers during the primetime hours of 8-11 p.m. ET from August 16-22, while MSNBC averaged 1.2 million and CNN settled for only 960,000. FNC dominated cable news competition for the week, but also beat all broadcast networks as NBC averaged 2.7 million, CBS averaged 2.5 million and ABC settled for 2.4 million. 

"Hannity" averaged 3.7 million viewers to finish as the most-watched program on cable news, follow by 3.6 million for "Tucker Carlson Tonight." "The Five," The Ingraham Angle" and "Special Report with Bret Baier" joined "Hannity" and "Tucker" among the top five. 

Fox News finished with nine of the 10 most-watched cable news programs, with MSNBC’s "The Rachel Maddow Show" finishing tenth. Overall, Fox News finished with the top 24 cable telecasts and top 33 cable news telecasts for the week.

The news-heavy week also saw embattled "Cuomo Prime Time" namesake Chris Cuomo return to CNN for the first time since his big brother announced he would step down as New York governor amid a sexual harassment scandal. "Cuomo Prime Time" finished as the most-watched show on CNN, but finished No. 21 overall behind six different MSNBC and 14 Fox News programs. 

"Hannity" was also the most-watched show among the key news demographic of adults age 25-54, averaging 669,000 viewers among the category coveted by advertisers. Fox News had the top 13 shows in the category. Fox News has now beaten CNN and MSNBC every hour of the day among the demo for three-straight weeks. 

Fox News beat CNN and MSNBC combined with Monday through Friday total day and primetime viewership among both total viewers and in the demo. It was the largest margin of victory among the total day demo since the week former President Trump was inaugurated in 2017. 

"Gutfeld!" outdrew all broadcast and late night programs in both total viewers and among the demo, even topping CBS’ "Late Show with Stephen Colbert" for the week.

All data courtesy of Nielsen Media Research. 

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