Fox News, MSNBC Take Top Weekly Primetime Ratings Slots

Fresh off its first quarter primetime ratings win, Fox News continued its dominance of the cable primetime ratings race with another weekly ratings victory, according to Nielsen.

Fox News was the most watched network on cable in primetime for the week of March 27 to April 2 with an average of 2.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen. The victory is Fox News’ 10th primetime ratings win in the past 11 weeks.

MSNBC was distant second with 1.7 million viewers, followed by USA Network and HGTV, both tied with 1.5 million viewers. ESPN, TBS, and AMC (tied with 1.4 million viewers), Discovery Channel (1.2 million), TNT (1.1 million) and History, Investigation Discovery, CNN, and FX (all tied with 1 million viewers) rounded out the top 10, according to Nielsen.

Fox News was also the top choice for viewers on a 24-hour basis for the 12th consecutive week, according to the network. Among adults 18-49, AMC topped all cable networks in primetime, while Adult Swim finished first on a total day basis, said Nielsen.

Most Watched Cable Shows For The Week of March 27 – April 2

Date ShowNetwork Total Viewers

4/2     The Walking Dead                                        AMC                            11.3 million

4/2     NASCAR Cup Racing                                     FS1                              3.9 million

4/2     Miss. St./SC Women’s NCAA Finals                ESPN                            3.8 million

3/27   Street Outlaws                                            Discovery                      3.7 million

4/2     College Basketball post game show               ESPN                            3.7 million

3/28   Fixer Upper                                                 HGTV                            3.7 million

4/2     Sunday Night Baseball: Chi/STL                    ESPN                            3.6 million

3/29   The O’Reilly Factor                                      Fox News                       3.4 million

3/27   WWE Monday Night Raw                              USA                              3.4 million

3/27   The O’Reilly Factor                                      Fox News                       3.3 million

Source: Nielsen

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.