Fox News dominated cable news on Inauguration Day, easily scoring the highest ratings of any other network.
At the peak coverage block between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. ET, Fox averaged 8.77 million viewers, with 2.19 million in the 25-54 age range demographic, Mediaite reported Monday. NBC followed with an audience of 5.9 million, and 2.02 million in the 25-54 demographic. ABC came in third with 4.9 million viewers, and CBS was fourth with 4.65 million.
CNN and MSNBC were far behind, with the former bringing in a total audience of 2.61 million and 942,000 in the demographic. MSNBC had 1.38 million viewers and 309,000 in the age demographic.
Fox enjoyed a larger rating lead during the Oath and Inaugural Address. The cable channel pulled in 11.77 million viewers and 2.99 in the demographic, while CNN only had a fraction of those totals–3.38 million viewers and 1.21 in the demographic. MSNBC gained 1.49 million viewers, with 315,000 in the 25-54 age range.
Fox's viewers fell but still dominated other networks in coverage of the inaugural balls, with 6.96 million viewers and 1.77 million in the demographic. CNN gained more viewers than the peak time with 4.53 million people total and 1.39 million in the demographic, and MSNBC had a slight bump with 1.62 million viewers and 395,000 in the demographic, according to Mediaite.
Donald Trump's presidency will apparently be good for television news ratings overall. CNN had its best year since 1995, MSNBC has never had a better year, and Fox News ended 2016 as the most-watched cable network, the Hill reported.
On Inauguration Day, Fox had its highest ratings since the night after the 2016 election in November.