The wild and crazy election cycle continues to put a focus on cable news, as only MLB playoff-heavy Fox Sports 1 beat Fox News Channel and CNN among primetime total viewers for the week of October 17-23.
Fox Sports 1 averaged 4.2 million viewers between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET to claim the top spot. Fox News finished second with 3.3 million viewers and CNN finished third with 2.2 million primetime viewers. For the last 21 weeks, Fox News has ranked as one of the top two networks in all of cable during primetime.
Among total-day viewers, Fox News finished No. 1 for the 10th consecutive week, averaging 1.5 million viewers. Nickelodeon came in second with 1.1 million, followed by CNN (1.1 million) and MSNBC (945,000).
CNN had a huge week in the key demo of adults age 25-54, averaging 814,000 viewers to beat rivals Fox News and MSNBC. Only Fox Sports 1 and AMC, which aired the season premiere of “The Walking Dead,” topped CNN in the demo among all cable networks during primetime.
CNN also topped its cable news rivals in total-day viewers in the demo, averaging 354,000 viewers, compared to 339,000 for Fox News and 239,000 viewers for MSNBC. Only ESPN, AMC and Adult Swim beat CNN in this category.
The week included the final presidential debate, for which Fox News averaged 11.3 million viewers to beat all networks, including both broadcast and cable.
FBN topped CNBC in Business Day for the second consecutive week and for the third time ever with 183,000 total viewers.