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‘The Five’ Sets New Cable Record In Q2; Tucker Carlson’s Show Continues To Dominate

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


Fox News dominated the cable news ratings in the second quarter of 2022, claiming the crown as the most-watched network on cable.

Fox News also extended its winning streak over its cable news competition and has been in first place for a whopping 82 consecutive quarters.

“Fox’s highest-rated show, The Five, made history as the first non-prime time program to win three consecutive quarters as the number one show on cable. The 5 p.m. panel program edged out Tucker Carlson Tonight for the top spot in terms of overall viewers, despite Carlson topping The Five in the demo. For the quarter, Fox News also scored 96 of the top 100 most-watched telecasts,” Mediaite reported.

“Sean Hannity, Jesse Watters, and Bret Baier rounded out the top five most-watched shows on cable – securing the 3rd, 4th and 5th places in the ratings. CNN landed in sixth place overall on cable, down a spot from its top-five finish last quarter. In the key 25-54 age demographic, Fox was up 11 percent, CNN dropped by 31 percent and MSNBC went down by 34 percent,” the report added.

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“The Five” topped the charts with Independents and also pulled in the largest audience of Democrats on all of cable news.

“According to Nielsen MRI, an average of 801,000 Democrats watched The Five in April, just edging out The Rachel Maddow Show, which brought in 788,000 viewers who identify as Democrats. Carlson, Hannity, and Jesse Watters had the 3rd, 4th, and 5th most-watched shows by Democrats – with Lawrence O’Donnell bringing in the 6th most Democrats. Carlson and The Five led with Republicans, bringing in 1.39 million and 1.29 million GOP-affiliation viewers – respectively,” Mediaite reported.

There’s a noticeable trend lately with more viewers who identify as Democrats watching Fox News.

Carlson’s primetime show on Fox News smashed another key barrier earlier this year.

Television viewership data released by Nielsen/MRI Fusion reveals that Carlson’s show is the number one most-watched show among Democrats in the key demographic of 25-54 year-olds.

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“As a network, Fox News owns the majority of cable news airtime around the clock. Fox takes in 56% of total primetime viewership, and 55% of daytime viewership. Fox also leads CNN and MSNBC among Independents and even pulls in a plurality of Democrats. Fox pulled in a total of 58% of all Independents who watched cable news, while MSNBC garnered 25% and CNN got just 17%. Fox was number one among self-identified Democrats, with 39% of total viewership, MSNBC came just in second place with 38%, and CNN fell behind with just 24%,” the DW report detailed.

Aside from Fox News’ dominance, CNN’s ratings have plummeted to new lows.

CNN’s weekend ratings have dipped to a new low not seen since 1993, according to Mediaite.

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“CNN’s weekend ratings for the month were the lowest of the year in both terms of demo and total viewers and coincided with a historic low for the network on Saturday the 18th – which saw the network dip to 57,000 total demo viewers. That Saturday was the lowest-rated since 1993, which pre-dated CNN’s top competitors Fox News and MSNBC,” the report stated.

“CNN programming too saw some lows as Reliable Sources notched its lowest-rated month since June of 2001, bringing in 79,000 demo viewers and 585,000 average total viewers. The show also marked its lowest second quarter since 2019, with an average of 679,000 viewers and 111,000 average demo viewers. Despite the show’s lows, Reliable Sources still outpaced CNN prime-time hosts for the quarter in terms of total viewers. CNN prime time in the second quarter of 2022 brought in an average of 670,000 total viewers and 155,000 in the demo. Reliable Sources’ host Brian Stelter joined weekend anchor Jim Acosta in beating out CNN’s weekday prime-time programming – a rarity in cable news highlighting CNN’s overall ratings woes,” Mediaite reported.

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