NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Fox News Channel is airing when they occur in daytime hours and a striking number of the network's viewers have made clear they'd rather be doing something else.
last week, Fox averaged 727,000 viewers, the Nielsen company said. That compares to the 3.09 million who watched the hearings on MSNBC and the 2.21 million tuned in to CNN.
It completely flips the typical viewing pattern for the news networks. During weekdays when the hearings are not taking place, Fox News Channel routinely has more viewers than the other two networks combined, Nielsen said.
Last Thursday, Fox had 1.33 million viewers for the 2 p.m. Eastern hour before the hearing started 鈥� slightly below its second quarter average but on par for early summer, when fewer people are watching TV.
After the hearing started, Fox's audience's sank to 747,000 for the 3 p.m. Eastern hour and even lower, to 718,000, at 4 p.m. Fox cut away from the hearing at 5 p.m. to show its popular panel program, 鈥淭he Five,鈥� and fans immediately rewarded them: viewership shot up to 2.76 million people, Nielsen said.
The apparent lack of interest explains why the frequently Trump-friendly network stuck with its regular lineup during the committee's only prime-time hearing, while ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and MSNBC . 鈥淭he Five鈥� has also been cable television's most-watched show, on average, for nine months.
ABC won the week in prime time, averaging 3.6 million viewers. CBS had 3 million, NBC had 2.5 million, Fox had 1.6 million, Univision had 1.1 million, Ion Television had 1.04 million and Telemundo had 990,000 viewers.
Fox News Channel led cable networks with an average viewership of 2.17 million in prime time. MSNBC had 1.41 million, ESPN had 1.21 million, HGTV had 938,000 and Hallmark had 777,000.
ABC's 鈥淲orld News Tonight鈥� won the evening news ratings race with an average of 6.6 million viewers. NBC's 鈥淣ightly News鈥� had 6.1 million and the 鈥淐BS Evening News鈥� had 4.5 million.
For the week of June 20-26, the 20 most-watched program in prime time, their networks and viewerships:
1. 鈥�60 Minutes,鈥� CBS, 6.13 million.
2. 鈥淎merica's Got Talent,鈥� NBC, 6 million.
3. Stanley Cup Finals, Game 6: Colorado at Tampa Bay, ABC, 5.82 million.
4. Stanley Cup Finals, Game 5: Tampa Bay at Colorado, ABC, 5.15 million.
5. 鈥�60 Minutes鈥� (Sunday, 8 p.m.), CBS, 4.8 million.
6. Stanley Cup Finals, Game 4: Colorado at Tampa Bay, ABC, 4.6 million.
7. Stanley Cup Finals, Game 3: Colorado at Tampa Bay, ABC, 4.1 million.
8. 鈥淔BI,鈥� CBS, 3.82 million.
9. 鈥淭he Price is Right鈥� (Wednesday, 8 p.m.), CBS, 3.74 million.
10. 鈥淪tanley Cup Pregame鈥� (Monday), ABC, 3.7 million.
11. 鈥淪tanley Cup Presentation," ABC, 3.69 million.
12. 鈥淣CIS,鈥� CBS, 3.58 million.
13. 鈥淭he Neighborhood,鈥� CBS, 3.57 million.
14. 鈥淵oung Sheldon,鈥� CBS, 3.49 million.
15. 鈥淭he Price is Right鈥� (Wednesday, 9 p.m.), CBS, 3.47 million.
16. 鈥淪tanley Cup Pregame鈥� (Friday), ABC, 3.27 million.
17. 鈥淪tanley Cup Pregame鈥� (Wednesday), ABC, 3.262 million.
18. 鈥淭ucker Carlson Tonight鈥� (Friday), Fox News, 3.255 million.
19. 鈥淪tanley Cup Pregame鈥� (Sunday), ABC, 3.23 million.
20. 鈥淭ucker Carlson Tonight鈥� (Thursday), Fox News, 3.19 million.
David Bauder, The Associated Press
