Photo courtesy of The New York Times
As major networks competed for top ratings on their election coverage, CNN managed to secure the largest total number of viewers for the week, reports the Associated Press.
CNN boasted an average of 5.9 million viewers each day of the week of the election, putting them just ahead of Fox News Channel’s 5.7 million-viewer average. Fox News did manage to surpass CNN on Tuesday when voters were heading to the polls with 14.1 million viewers, compared to CNN’s 9.4 million.
MSNBC came close in third with 7.6 million on Election Day and a 4.6 million-viewer average across the week. Broadcast networks struggled to keep up with the cable channels with ABC at 6.3 million, NBC at 5.8 million, and CBS at 4.5 million.
CNN pulled especially far ahead Saturday evening with a whopping 13.5 million tuning in to hear projected President-elect Joe Biden’s speech after the race was called in his favor by AP, Fox News, and other major networks. MSNBC came in second that night with 9 million viewers. Only 3.1 million watched Biden’s speech on Fox News.
The broadcast networks made their comeback in the evening newscasts with ABC’s “World News Tonight” at the head of the pack, averaging 9.4 million views for the week. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 8.2 million, and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.7 million.
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