MSNBC tooted its own horn on Wednesday, celebrating its first weekly ratings victory over Fox News in more than 17 years. Last week, MSNBC was the No. 1 cable news network in both the coveted 24-to-54 demographic and among all viewers, in both daytime and prime time, according to Nielsen. Fox News was even behind CNN in daytime viewers, its first time in the No. 3 slot since October 2001, MSNBC said. MSNBC's Rachel Maddow had the top program across all cable news, beating Fox News' Sean Hannity by nearly 2-to-1 among the 24-54 demographic.
In fact, "Maddow has been beating Hannity outright in December, a turnaround from October," when Fox News absolutely dominated cable news, The Associated Press notes. Hannity will end the year with the most-watched show on cable news for the second year in a row, but his ratings from the midterm elections through last week are down 19 percent versus October, and 30 percent lower among the 24-54 demographic.
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Hannity's prime-time Fox News colleagues Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson have also been down by double digits since the election, but Trump has been a tide that's lifted all cable news boats, according to Nielsen data. Fox News will end the year as the top-rated network on all of basic cable for a third year running, and MSNBC will end in third place, drawing its biggest audience it its history. Even CNN, No. 11 on basic cable, will likely have its third-best year ever.
UPDATE: Fox News says that, if you look at Nielsen's Monday-Sunday data, it beat MSNBC in total day viewers, though not prime time.
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