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Baby Bump? Cable Nets’ Extensive Coverage of Royal Birth Barely Registers

Jul 24, 2013  •  Post A Comment

The birth of the royal baby was all over cable news networks on Monday, but the ratings barely budged, reports TVNewser.com.

News of the birth was announced during the 3 p.m. hour, with the formal announcement from the palace placard coming during the 4 p.m. hour, the story notes. Fox News and MSNBC were up slightly from their yearly averages in total viewers, while CNN doubled its yearly average.

"In other words, there was viewer interest in the birth, but the ratings were far lower than other recent events, like the Zimmerman trial and the Asiana crash," the piece notes.

Numbers for the 3 p.m. hour in the key news demo of adults 25-54 show CNN on top with 304,000, ahead of FNC’s 225,000 and MSNBC with 109,000. FNC moves ahead at 4 p.m. with 326,000 to CNN’s 316,000 and MSNBC’s 105,000.

Fox News is way ahead in total viewers for both hours. At 3 p.m., FNC leads with 1.643 million, followed by CNN with 875,000 and MSNBC with 426,000. At 4 p.m., Fox is on top with 1.812 million, ahead of CNN with 1.001 million and MSNBC with 467,000.

"The Duchess of Cambridge went into labor in the middle of the night, so yesterday’s morning programs all led with the impending birth. None of the morning cable programs saw any sort of royal baby ratings bump," the report notes. "As usual, ‘Fox & Friends’ was first in both total and demo viewers, followed by ‘Morning Joe’ and ‘New Day.’" the piece reports.

The report adds: "In prime time and total day, Fox News led cable news in total viewers and the demo, with CNN second, and MSNBC third. A replay of ‘Will & Kate Plus One’ helped CNN edge ‘On the Record’ for the top demo slot at 10 p.m., though it was the only hour CNN edged out FNC."

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