Powered By Trump Rally, Hannity Dominates Cable News Ratings On Thursday Night

In the wake of the bombshell New York Times op-ed written by a senior Trump administration official and the release of excerpts from Bob Woodward’s upcoming White House tell-all book Fear, President Donald Trump held a campaign rally in Montana Thursday night. And while CNN and MSNBC stood by their policy of not running Trump rallies live, Fox News aired Trump’s performance and experienced big ratings results.

According to Nielsen, Fox News led across the board during the primetime 8 PM to 11 PM hours, averaging 3.253 million viewers overall and 643,000 in the key 25-54 demographic. MSNBC finished second in both metrics with 512,000 demo viewers and a total audience of 2.768 million. CNN pulled in 1.314 million total viewers and 415,000 in the demo.

Fox News’ Hannity, which devoted most of its 9 PM time slot to the rally, topped cable news with a muscular 3.628 million total viewers and 694,000 in the key demographic. Hannity’s head-to-head competitor, MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, finished second overall in both the demo (658,000) and total viewership (3.264 million).

Fox’s Tucker Carlson Tonight placed third in the demographic (629,000) and fourth in total audience (3.017 million). FNC’s The Ingraham Angle took third place in total viewership (3.112 million) and fourth in the demo (579,000). MSNBC’s The Last Word finished fifth in both the demo (481,000) and total viewers (2,800 million).

In total day, Fox News came out on top in overall audience (1.825 million) and the demographic (342,000). MSNBC nabbed 1.484 million viewers overall and 272,000 in the key demo. CNN captured 899,000 viewers overall and 251,000 in the key demo.

The top-rated program for CNN was the 10 PM broadcast of CNN Tonight, which drew 1.350 million total viewers. Anderson Cooper 360 led the network in the key demo with 428,000.