The combination of fast-moving economic-crisis news and politics provided a big lift for cable news channels, particularly Fox News Channel, which was the most-watched basic cable channel in prime time and the second-most-watched channel for total day last week.
National data from Nielsen Media Research for Oct. 6-12 showed FNC averaged 3.4 million viewers in prime time and 1.5 million viewers for total day.
CNN ranked fifth for the week in prime time with an average 2.4 million viewers and ninth for total day with 1.1 million viewers.
MSNBC ranked ninth in prime time with an average 1.6 million viewers and 15th for total day with 685,000 total viewers.
CNBC’s business day programming block from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. averaged 541,000 viewers, up 70% from its third-quarter average and a record week for CNBC, which was pushed into 29th place for total day with an average 431,000 viewers.
(Editor: Liff)