Fox News set for best year yet

[a kennedy]

By James Hibberd

Fox News is on track to have its most-watched year ever, showing significant ratings growth despite having just come off a highflying election year.

With the second quarter coming to a close, Fox News averaged about the same number of viewers as the top three other cable news networks combined. And while rivals including CNN (-22%) and MSNBC (-18%) took hits following last quarter's inauguration-fueled boost, Fox News (-3%) remained nearly steady.

Compared with last year, the Fox News (averaging 2.1 million viewers, 509,000 adults 25-54 quarter-to-date) is up 35% over last year in primetime viewers and 48% in the demo. CNN (805,000 viewers, 210,000 in demo) fell 16% in viewers and 29% in the demo. MSNBC (787,000 viewers, 259,000 in demo) climbed 15% in viewers and about on par, -3%, in the demo. And CNN Headline News (553,000, 201,000) showed very strong growth, up 39% and 37%, respectively, and is on track for its best second quarter.

The new standings are strong enough to rank Fox News third behind USA and TNT among all ad-supported cable networks for the quarter among primetime total viewers. In its core demo, Fox News had eight of the top 10 cable news shows. It had similarly sunny increases for total day, while CNN and MSNBC were roughly on par with last year.

Earning double-digit growth after an election year is quite a feat for a news network. With Fox News best known for such right-leaning personalities as Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly, one might assume having a Democrat in the White House somehow helps boost viewership.

A dominant political party indeed can fuel the popularity of opposing voices -- Comedy Central's "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" and liberal online news hubs Huffington Post and Daily Kos came to prominence during George W. Bush's tenure, just as talk radio conservatives like Rush Limbaugh and news sites like Drudge Report rose during the Clinton years.

full article: <http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i46ed019fcf8ec109a3808def6b8f0220>

[DainBramaged]

1. I guess when the 'moths' are lost, they turn back to the 'candle'.

With so much positive news about Obama and the Democrats on the major networks, where else can the desperate mouth breathers turn to? FAUX still doesn't compare to the Big 3 they just rule cable news.

[edbermac]

2. The USA has a population of over 300 million people.

And Fox News has an average of 2 million viewers?

WOW! I'm impressed! :sarcasm:

[get the red out]

3. The righties are trapped

They can't deal with anything that might shake their own, false, world view so they have to watch Fox while the rest of us can watch anything they want. And a lot of liberals watch Fox from time to time just to fume or laugh.

[LaPera]

4. Proves lying sensationalism works on uninformed bubble-headed Americans hooked on flash & bullshi!