Fox News Channel’s primetime coverage of Election Night 2020 topped all television networks and set a record for the most-watched Election Night coverage in cable news history, according to early data from Nielsen Media Research. FNC’s primetime coverage averaged 13.7 million total viewers and nearly 5 million in the 25-54 demographic, beating ABC, NBC, CBS and all cable news networks in both.
CNN (9.1 million) was second for the night in viewership, followed by MSNBC (7.3 million), ABC (6.1 million) and NBC (5.6 million).
The ranking reflects the current dominance of the cable news networks over political coverage. Four years ago, NBC was the most-watched network on Election Night (12.1 million viewers), followed by Fox News (11.5 million).
This is the first time in 12 years that ABC was the most watched broadcast network on election night.
Co-anchored by Special Report’s Bret Baier and The Story’s Martha MacCallum (6 p.m.-3 a.m. ET), FNC’s special presentation from 6 p.m.-4 a.m. ET delivered 10.5 million viewers and 3.9 million in the 25-54 demo, topping all networks in total viewers and the demo. Additionally, FNC also was the most-watched cable news network in the 18-49 demographic with 4.1 million viewers during primetime (8-11 p.m. ET) and 3.2 million viewers from 6 p.m.-3 a.m. ET. During last night’s coverage, FNC’s telecast was up in primetime in both categories versus 2016 election programming (up 12% in viewers and up 6% in 25-54 demo), while CNN was off. During total day, FNC also was No. 1, averaging 5.7 million viewers and 1.9 in the 25-54 demo for the duration of Election Day coverage.
(Excerpt) Read more in: Deadline