Fox scores big ratings on eve of Trump inauguration

Fox News had a huge night on the eve of President Trump’s inauguration, scoring its highest ratings since the night after the 2016 election. 

On Thursday night, Fox delivered an average of 4.818 million viewers in primetime between 8:00 pm and 11:00 pm, easily beating second-place MSNBC (1.58 million) and third-place CNN (1.462 million). 

Fox also bested its competition in the key 25-54 demographic that advertisers covet most. The 21st Century-owned channel averaged 1.079 million viewers compared to 486,000 for CNN and 310,000 for MSNBC. 

 

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Trump has been a ratings boon for all the cable news networks. In 2016, all three cable news networks enjoyed record ratings, with CNN having its best year since 1995 and MSNBC capturing its largest audience ever for the year. 

Fox News finished 2016 as the most-watched basic cable network for the first time in its 20-year history, beating even non-cable stations like ESPN and TBS. 

Ratings numbers for Trump’s inauguration and post-address coverage — which has included cutaways from post-inauguration events to protests in many cities across the country — will be available tomorrow.