TV Ratings: Viewers Watching Ukraine Coverage

Cable news viewership jumped during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Fox News Channel leading the way and CNN showing the most dramatic increases, reports The Associated Press citing Nielsen data.

CNN, Fox and MSNBC collectively averaged 6.4 million viewers in prime time between the start of the war last Wednesday and Sunday night. That’s up from their January average of 4 million, the Nielsen company said.

For the full day between Wednesday and Sunday, Fox averaged 2.32 million viewers, up 64% from the quieter news month of January. CNN’s audience soared from 633,000 in January to 1.75 million last week, up 178%. MSNBC had 980,000 for its war coverage, up 51% over January.

Those numbers match a trend: CNN tends to have the most dramatic increases during big news events while its rivals, more focused on political talk, are steadier in the quiet periods.

In entertainment, the venerable series “Law & Order” returned last week, with 5.8 million people watching the debut of its revival last Thursday. That along with the “Chicago Fire” and its spinoffs gave the prolific producer Dick Wolf four series in Nielsen’s top 12.

CBS won the week in prime time, averaging 4.5 million viewers. ABC had 3.5 million, NBC had 3.4 million, Fox had 2 million, Univision had 1.7 million, Ion Television had 1.1 million and Telemundo had 1 million.

📺Top 20 prime-Time Shows (Total Viewers):

1. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 8.36 million.

2. “FBI,” CBS, 7.33 million.

3. “The Equalizer,” CBS, 7.18 million.

4. “Chicago Med,” NBC, 7.13 million.

5. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 6.95 million.

6. “Chicago Fire,” NBC, 6.83 million.

7. “American Idol,” ABC, 6.3 million.

8. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 6.25 million.

9. “FBI: International,” CBS, 6.13 million.

10. “Chicago PD,” NBC, 6.01 million.

11. “Ghosts,” CBS, 5.85 million.

12. “Law & Order,” NBC, 5.8 million.

13. “Jeopardy! College Championship,” ABC, 5.72 million.

14. “FBI: Most Wanted,” CBS, 5.7 million.

15. “NBC New Special Report: Russia/Ukraine Crisis,” NBC, 5.34 million.

16. “NCIS: Los Angeles,” CBS, 5.23 million.

17. “Magnum P.I.,” CBS, 5.21 million.

18. “Law & Order: SVU,” NBC, 5.15 million.

19. “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” ABC, 5.14 million.

20. “911: Lone Star,” Fox, 5.13 million.

📺EVENING NEWS

ABC’s “World News Tonight” won the evening news ratings race with an average of 9 million viewers last week. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 7.6 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.3 million.

📺CABLE TV

Fox News Channel led the cable networks with an average of 3.17 million viewers in prime time. CNN had 1.5 million, MSNBC had 1.39 million, ESPN had 1.15 million and HGTV had 1.1 million.

Graphics courtesy of RoadMN (w/permission)

TVNewser reports Fox News’ audience has returned in full force after those Q1 ’21 struggles in total day. The network continues to post more gains than its competitors relative to the year-ago week. In fact, Fox News gained +28% in total primetime viewers, 74% in the primetime demo, +57% in total day viewers and +104% in the total day demo vs. the week of Feb. 22, 2021.

CNN also posted year-over-year gains for the first time in 2022. The network saw growth of +14% in total primetime viewers, +62% in the primetime demo, +22% in total day viewers and +65% in the total day demo vs. the year-ago week.

MSNBC, on the other hand, hasn’t benefited quite as much from this major news story. Despite growth from the prior week, the network is still down double digits from what it was averaging at this point last year.

Graphics courtesy of RoadMN (w/permission)

On the programming front, Fox News’ The Five remained the most-watched cable news show (4.09 million viewers), followed by Tucker Carlson Tonight (3.93 million), Jesse Watters Primetime (3.5 million), Hannity (3.45 million) and Special Report with Bret Baier (3.15 million) rounding out the top five in total viewers. Carlson had the top cable news show among adults 25-54 (788,000).

📺CABLE TV NEWS FOR FEBRUARY:

Fox News finished February as the No. 1 basic cable network among both total and primetime viewers as beleaguered CNN continued to struggle, according to Fox News.

Fox News averaged 1.7 million viewers during the news-heavy month that included ongoing coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while no other basic cable network surpassed the one-million viewer benchmark. MSNBC finished second with 719,000 and USA finished third with 662,000 average viewers. CNN settled for fourth, averaging 621,000 to finish more than a million viewers behind Fox News.

Graphics courtesy of RoadMN (w/permission)

Americans flocked to Fox News from 8-11 p.m., when its primetime lineup of Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham crushed all basic cable offerings while averaging 2.6 million viewers. 

MSNBC averaged 1.2 million to finish second, followed by USA, HGTV, TNT, ESPN, Hallmark, INSP, History and TLC. CNN’s long-struggling primetime lineup of Anderson Cooper and Don Lemon averaged only 774,000 to finish outside the top ten as the network has floundered since Chris Cuomo was fired late last year.