Fox News’ coronavirus town hall with President Donald Trump Sunday night brought in 3.819 million viewers, according to early Nielsen ratings research, beating MSNBC and CNN’s totals for the time slot combined.
“America Together: Returning to Work,” which aired from 7 p.m. ET to 9 p.m. ET and featured Trump answering viewer-submitted questions, drew in 637,000 viewers in the advertiser-coveted age demographic of 25 to 54, too.
For comparison, CNN had 1.166 million viewers from 7 to 9 p.m. ET Sunday, with 294,000 in the key demo. MSNBC was in third place for both total viewers and demo viewers, with 678,000 and 105,000, respectively.
Over on broadcast, though, CBS’ “60 Minutes” dominated in the 7 p.m. hour, drawing 9.1 million total viewers for its latest update on the pandemic economy and correspondent Lesley Stahl’s revelation that she had contracted the coronavirus herself.
The town hall was moderated by Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, but didn’t quite beat the all-time town hall ratings record, held by Baier and MacCallum’s March 5 Trump town hall. That one brought in 4.2 million average total viewers, of whom 744,000 were in the key demo.
Prior to Sunday’s event, MacCallum told TheWrap that covering the coronavirus pandemic reminds her of covering the September 11th terrorist attacks “in many ways.”
“We’ve been following this story very closely, so wherever there are facts that need to be reined in or questions that need to be pressed further, that’s what we’re there for,” she said of herself and Baier.