Fox News Grabs Another Weekly Primetime Ratings Win

Fox News is back on top of the weekly cable primetime ratings chart while continuing its stranglehold on the total day ratings race, according to Nielsen.

Fox News avenged last week's loss to CNN by averaging 2.6 million viewers in primetime to lead all cable networks during the week of March 14 to March 20, said Nielsen. TBS and TNT rode their respective “March Madness” men’s college basketball tournament coverage to a second place and third place finish, averaging 2.1 million and 1.8 million viewers, respectively, for the week.

HGTV drew 1.7 million viewers for the week while AMC rounded out the top five with 1.6 million viewers. The rest of the top 10 most watched networks for the week include USA Network and CNN (tied with 1.5 million); History and Disney Channel (tied with 1.2 million) and TruTV (1 million).

Fox News’ 1.4 million viewers topped Nickelodeon’s 1.2 million watchers on a 24-hour basis. Adult Swim, Disney Channel and HGTV followed closely behind.

TBS was the top pick in primetime among adults 18-49 for the week, while Disney Channel was the most watched network among kids 2 to 11 for the week, according to Nielsen.

Most Watched Shows For The Week of March 14 to March 20

DateShowNetworkTotal Viewers

3/20   Walking Dead                                                AMC                            12.6 million

3/20   Talking Dead                                                 AMC                            5.3 million

3/15   America’s Election Headquarters                Fox News                    5.2 million

3/15   America’s Election Headquarters                Fox News                    4.9 million

3/15   America’s Election Headquarters                Fox News                     4.8 million

3/15   Super Tuesday 3                                         CNN                            4.5 million

3/15   Super Tuesday 3                                         CNN                            4.2 million

3/15   Super Tuesday 3                                         CNN                             4.1 million

3/19   Providence/North Carolina                         TBS                             4.0 million

3/14   The O’Reilly Factor                                    Fox News                     3.6 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.