Fox News Rides Presidential SOTU to Top of Weekly Cable Primetime Rating Chart

Bolstered by its coverage of President Trump’s Feb. 5 State Of The Union address, Fox News easily topped cable’s weekly ratings charts, Nielsen said.

Fox News averaged 3.2 million subscribers during the week of Feb. 4-10, topping MSNBC’s 2 million subscriber average, according to Nielsen. HGTV finished third with 1.3 million viewers, while History and CNN tied for fourth with 1.2 million watchers.

Hallmark Channel and Investigation Discovery (tied with 1.1 million viewers) and USA Network, TLC and TNT (tied with 1.0 million) rounded out the top 10.

Fox News also topped MSNBC, Nickelodeon, HGTV and Investigation Discovery on a 24-hour basis for the week, said 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.