CNN’s Tapper Leads Time Slot In Demo, Hannity Most-Watched Cable News Program Friday

On a day that marked the horrific shooting at Santa Fe High School that left ten dead, millions of concerned viewers tuned into the Big Three cable news networks Friday afternoon to get more information on the tragedy.

During the daytime 9 AM to 5 PM hours, Fox News led the way in both total viewership (1.884 million) and the key 25-54 demographic (373,000). CNN placed second in the demo (333,000) and total viewers (1.087 million). MSNBC averaged 1.047 million viewers overall and 230,000 in the demographic during the time slot.

In the 4 PM slot, CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper finished first in the demographic, drawing 404,000 viewers. The CNN program was just ahead of Fox’s Your World with Neil Cavuto, which pulled in a demo audience of 403,000. MSNBC’s Deadline: White House finished third in the demo with 263,000 viewers. In terms of total viewership, Cavuto topped the hour (1.946 million), followed by Deadline (1.318 million) and Tapper (1.248 million).

During the 8 PM to 11 PM time slot, Fox News led across the board with a total audience of 2.482 million and 466,000 in the key demo. MSNBC came in second in both metrics, pulling in 2.053 million total viewers and 391,000 in the demographic. CNN averaged 994,000 viewers overall and 327,000 in the demo.

Fox News’ Hannity was the most-watched program on Friday in both total audience (2.925 million) and the demographic (516,000). Hannity’s lead-in show, Tucker Carlson Tonight, finished third overall in the demo (468,000) and second in total viewers (2.538 million). Fox News’ The Five, which airs at 5 PM ET, placed second in the 25-54 demographic (488,000). MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show finished third in total viewership (2.5 million) and fourth in the key demo (458,000).