CNN Wins Super Tuesday Cable Ratings
Network Tops Fox News, MSNBC With Viewers, News Demo
By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 2/6/2008 9:27:00 AM MT
CNN was the cable-news network ratings winner with its Super Tuesday coverage.
As Sen. John McCain (R.-Ariz) fortified his status as the front-runner for the GOP presidential nod and Sens. Hillary Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) engaged in their pitched battle for delegates to gain the Democratic nomination, CNN on Feb. 5 scored the most in primetime among the cable-news sec
tor. The network averaged 3.65 million viewers from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m., compared to 3.49 million for Fox News Channel and 2.12 million for MSNBC, according to Nielsen Media Research data.
Among the adults 25-to-54 news demo, CNN garnered 1.53 million viewers on average, while Fox News notched 1.09 million and MSNBC 1.03.
It was more of the same over more extended periods of time last night. CNN was first from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. averaging 3.05 million viewers, including 1.3 million of the aforementioned demo. Fox News grabbed 2.64 million, of which 861,000 
were adults 25 to 54. For its part, MSNBC tallied 1.72 million, 801,000 within the news demo during that seven-hour span.
From 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., CNN captured 3.31 million viewers on average, versus 2.58 million and just under 1.8 million for Fox News and MSNBC, respectively. With the 25-to-54 set, the counts were a respective 1.48 million, 918,000 and 885,000.
CNN officials said viewership peaked in the 11 p.m. hour with some 4.02 million watchers on average.
