FOX leads in cable news ratings … big time

CNN and MSNBC are becoming the Hamas of cable news – firing salvos of media rockets at FOX News – and other conservative outlets – on a daily basis.  Made me wonder what impact the barrage of mendacious accusations have had on the long-time number one network in cable news.  So, I thought I should check.  My curiosity was timely as the new ratings came out recently.

Weeeell … it did not take long to get the answer.  As I called up the ratings on my computer, the first headline I saw said “FOX News crushes competition in 3Q (third quarter) ratings.”  That was the report as of September 2021.  The next headline read, “FOX News Again Averages More Viewers than MSNBC and CNN Combined.”

Then there is this one: “Tucker Carlson, The Five, and Hannity Are Cable News’ Top-Rated Shows.”  And this one should make CNN’s media maven Brian Stelter apoplectic: “Tucker Carlson Finishes No. 1 Across the Board.”

FOX has a total audience share of 1,759,000 compared to 575,000 for CNN and 926,000 for MSNBC.  In Prime time, FOX does even better with 2,598,000.  CNN’s 749,000 falls behind MSNBC’s 1,522,000.  In both cases, FOX approximately doubles the audience of each of its primary competitors. With a miserable third place finish, how long can CNN keep promoting itselves as “the most watched news.”

What surprised me was how poorly CNN came out – especially their star anchors.  In the 10 p.m. time slot, Don Lemon has half the audience of MSNBC’s Larry O’Donnell and a piddly one-third of FOX’s Laura Ingraham.  In the 11 p.m. time slot, Lemon has less than one-half of MSNBC’s Brian Williams and approximately one-fifth of FOX’s Greg Gutfeld.

CNN’s senior personality, Wolf Blitzer pulls less than one-third of his FOX competitor, Bret Baier.  CNN’s Anderson Cooper gets one-fourth of Tucker Carlson and two-thirds of what MSNBC’s Chris Hayes.

What is significant is that FOX is doing better than in some of the past ratings.  They have always been on top, but not by as much as they are today.

I will give my opinion as to why FOX is doing so well.  The American viewing audience is not as stupid or gullible as the left-wing networks believe.  People are getting tired of CNN’s and MSNBC’s constant anti-Republican, anti-conservative and (shall we say) anti-American values.  In many ways, there is no new news on those networks.  Because they are stuck with their insurrection narrative, CNN and MANBC show the old videos on the January 6^th riot as if it happened yesterday.  

Folks probably want updates on the border crisis that are rare found on CNN and almost never on MSNBC.  Trump gets a hundred times more coverage than the bunker-bound President Biden.  Folks like to hear from both sides – and there is no doubt that FOX will present real counterpoints in most of their newscasts.  CNN on occasion and MSNBC virtually never.

People may have varying opinions to explain the relative popularity of the three major cable news networks, but the numbers are the numbers.  The two left-leaning networks cannot put a dent in FOX’s number one status – even is you combined their viewship.

If there is any political meaning to be drawn from these numbers – and I think there is – the Democrats should be worrying about 2022.  Worrying?  They should be pooping bricks.  I suspect they are.

So, there ‘tis.