Fox News obliterated its cable news competition during Tuesday night’s election coverage, and did so by humiliating margins. However, co-hosts Megyn Kelly and Bret Baier not only vanquished CNN and MSNBC into oblivion, the dynamic duo also beat their broadcast network competition — in both total viewers and the all-important 25-54 age demo:
According to Nielsen Media Research, Fox News Channel beat CNN, MSNBC, CBS, NBC and ABC’s coverage in both total viewers and in the 25-to-54-year-old demographic.
Co-anchored by Bret Baier and Megyn Kelly, the channel’s election coverage averaged 6.3 million viewers during prime time.
CNN was the second most watched news network, with 2.1 million viewers during prime time. MSNBC came in third with about 1.7 million viewers.
Basically, Fox News not only beat CNN and MSNBC combined, Fox almost doubled the combined viewership of its left-wing cable competition.
This is no surprise. Bret Baier hosts “Special Report,” which has been the finest newscast found anywhere and in any format since Brit Hume launched it in 1998, and Megyn Kelly is the biggest star in news, cable or otherwise.
Meanwhile, over at CNN you had Wolf Blitzer co-anchoring — a man America was already tired of in 1995 — while Jake Tapper (who should’ve been front and center) was relegated to sometimes anchor/contributor status. If I knew anything about sports, I would end this paragraph with an awesome metaphor.
Co-anchoring MSNBC was Chris Matthews, who’s so played out even his meltdowns have lost their kick.
The racket of bundled cable, though, means never having to say you’re sorry. MSNBC and CNN aren’t motivated to up the game because they don’t have to. Whether you watch CNN and MSNBC or not, both networks make hundreds of millions just by being available in your home.
John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
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