24 Million Watch GOP Debate on Fox News; Most-Watched Cable News Program Ever

In the estimation of many reporters who cover the political and media beats, Fox News was the winner of the first GOP debate. And with the just-released ratings we can confirm that.

A whopping 24 million watched the debate from 9 p.m. ET to just past 11 p.m. ET. FNC drew 7.9 million in the A25-54 demo.

This is poised to be the highest non-sports cable program of all time. It’s already the highest-rated cable news program of all time and Fox News’s most-watched program ever.

The 5 p.m. ET debate, withe the 7 lower-tier candidates did very well for Fox News too, drawing 6.1 million total viewers and 1.2 million in the demo, making it the third-highest primary debate ever on cable.

• RELATED: 1st 2016 GOP Debate Live Blog

In the 2012 cycle, the first GOP debate, also on Fox News, and airing much earlier — on May 5, 2011 — was watched by 3.258 million viewers. The most-watched primary debate drew 7.630 million on ABC on the night of Dec. 10, 2011.

Going back to the 2008 cycle, when, like this go-round, there were open Democratic and Republican tickets,  the first GOP debate on Oct. 9, 2007, simulcast on MSNBC and CNBC, drew a combined 2.141 million. The most-watched GOP debate of that cycle was on ABC, when 7.350 million watched the Jan. 5, 2008 face-off.

Nielsen Social TV ratings ranked last night’s debate as the number one event on Twitter with 3.3 million tweets and 393 million impressions, beating Jon Stewart’s farewell episode. The debate, which was co-sponsored by Facebook, increased interactions on FNC’s Facebook page by +74 percent from a typical day in July. The 10 million Facebook video views were up +190 percent compared to the daily July 2015 average.

Via: TV Newser

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Huge: Fox Debate Pulls In 10 Million Viewers, Doubles Previous Record

Whether it was the presence of Donald Trump or interest in other candidates, the first GOP presidential primary debate was a huge success in the ratings.

Neilson overnight ratings indicate 16 percent of households who had their TV on Thursday night were tuned in to Fox News to watch the GOP top 10 scrap.

 

Brian StelterVerified account‏@brianstelter

Overnight #'s: #GOPDebate had a 16.0 household rating. The biggest GOP debates in 2011/12 had 5.3 ratings http://cnnmon.ie/1Hvr2RT  *May change

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Overnight estimates can be adjusted as the calculations are completed by Neilson, but preliminary reports indicate 10 million Americans watched.

Via: Daily News

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Obama core still crumbling

Poll: Obama’s Base Continues To Crumble, Approval Rating Among Voters Under 30 Hits New Low, 37%

OBAMA CORE STILL CRUMBLING - The latest New Fox News poll gives President 

Obama a 41 percent approval rating among all registered voters – not a great way for him to end year five. But how about this: Only 37 percent of voters under 30 approve of the job the president is doing. That’s a 17-point decline in one year among the voters who represent what was once the core of the president’s coalition. These are the people to whom the president is making an increasingly frantic plea to enroll in ObamaCare. And surely the “Lie of the Year” about Americans being able to keep their coverage and care under his law is a big reason. Sixty-one percent of all respondents believed he knew at the time that his statements were untrue.

[When it comes to his signature entitlement program, 54 percent of respondents say they wish it had never passed. Another 60 percent do not see ObamaCare being successful. Sixty-seven percent favor a delay in its implementation, including 54 percent of Democrats.]

Can you hear me now? - But when it comes to younger voters, the other big scandal – the president misleading voters about his expansion of domestic surveillance – is likely just as important. A White House panel has proposed limits for domestic surveillance, and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney says President Obama will soon address those proposals. Reporters expect that could come as soon as today. Fox News has more.

PUTIN STICKS UP FOR OBAMA ON SPYING - Russian President Vladimir Putin claims Moscow is not controlling leaker Edward Snowden. Putin told reporters Thursday that anything published by Snowden came prior to his arrival in Russia. The Russian President maintains that Snowden’s asylum was conditioned on halting anti-American activities. Putin also defended the NSA’s surveillance program saying it is a necessary defense against terror but cautioned it needs to follow the rules. In referring to Snowden’s leaks, Putin said he “envies” President Obamabecause “he can get away with it”. AP has more.

Via: Fox News

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TV Ratings: CNN Suffers Worst Week Under Jeff Zucker

Dragged down by its lowest-rated weeknight since going against the Olympics in 2012, the primetime block pulls in lows in total viewers and the key demo.

CNN's bad night ended up being part of a very bad week.

The cable news network suffered its lowest Monday-Friday primetime average in over year for the week of Oct. 28 to Nov. 1. Averaging just 385,000 viewers and 95,000 adults 25-54, both key measurements marked CNN's worst showings since the 20-year record lows last August when the network suffered particularly against coverage of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Also the lowest-rated week since Jeff Zucker took the reins at the beginning of the year, it happened to coincide with a surplus of breaking news. In addition to ongoing coverage of the Affordable Healthcare Act hearings, Friday's shooting at the Los Angeles International Airport drove viewers to competitors Fox News Channel and MSNBC.

Easily topping all other networks for the week, FNC averaged 2.367 million viewers during the 8-11 p.m. primetime block. And in the targeted adults demographic, FNC's 377,000 viewers nearly outrated CNN's entire audience.

MSNBC, coming in second place for the week, averaged 683,000 viewers and 150,000 adults 25-54.

Via: THR

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MEGYN KELLY PULLED OFF SOMETHING MSNBC’S PRESIDENT SAID WAS ‘IMPOSSIBLE’

It turns out Megyn Kelly’s ratings did double on the second night of her primetime Fox News show, despite the president of MSNBC calling it “impossible.”

Phil Griffin actually said there should be “some investigations” after ratings for “The Kelly File”increased 100 percent on the show’s second night.

Megyn Kelly, host of Fox News Channel’s “The Kelly File,” rehearses for the debut of her new show, in New York, Friday, Oct. 4, 2013. (AP)

“Monday we had a really good day in the key demographic, on the night that Fox News debuted their three shows, we either tied or beat them in those hours,” Griffin said last week. “Tuesday–you guys should be doing some investigations–I have never seen it in all my years of cable, same overnight, same everything, and they doubled their ratings in a day? It is impossible.”

The New York Daily News reported that ratings tracker Nielsen conducted an investigation and, sure enough, Kelly’s numbers were accurate.

Via: WFB

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Skewed! MSNBC President Wants ‘Investigation’ into Fox’s ‘Impossible’ Ratings

Maybe conservatives aren’t entirely alone in being unable to accept inconvenient realities reelected in surveys. According to a report in Media Bistro on Friday, MSNBC President Phil Griffin demanded an “investigation” be conducted into Fox News Channel’s “impossible” ratings increase over the last week. He did not specify which agency would conduct this investigation, but might we suggest the Federal Bureau of Embarrassing Statements?

“Monday we had a really good day in the key demographic, on the night that Fox News debuted their three shows, we either tied or beat them in those hours,” Griffin told a group of MSNBC employees at a briefing to preview the launch of a redesigned MSNBC.com.

“Tuesday – you guys should be doing some investigations – I have never seen it in all my years of cable, same overnight, same everything, and they doubled their ratings in a day? It is impossible,” Griffin continued inadvisably. “I have never seen it. They did election night numbers in the demo Tuesday.”

RELATED: Fox News Ratings Up Big in Second Night of New Primetime Lineup

Griffin is correct. After a lackluster debut on Monday night for Megyn Kelly’s The Kelly File, her ratings increased in the key demographic by %116 percent to 635,000. “Kelly also saw a 34% increase in total viewers, rising to 2.768M,” Mediaite reported. “Fox News soundly beat its competition on CNN and MSNBC in both the 25-54 demo and total viewers.”

Impressive, yes. No one has yet, however, suggested that this ratings increase was… suspicious.

The Hollywood Reporter reached out to Nielsen for comment, but as of print time they had “not yet responded to Griffin’s remarks.”

Via: Mediaite.com

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MSNBC Has Lousy Showing During Obama’s Primetime Address

MSNBC once again got badly beaten by Fox News and CNN during a breaking national news moment Tuesday, finishing a distant third during President Obama’s primetime Syria address, Mediaite reports.

Fox News had nearly three times the viewership for Obama’s speech:

From 9-9:17pm ET, when the president was speaking, Fox had 939K viewers in the 25-54 demo and 4.042M total viewers. CNN was second with 722K in the demo and 1.999M total.

MSNBC did not break out the numbers for the address vs. post-speech analysis, but either way came in third place with 411K in the demo and 1.527M during the 9pm hour.

“The Place for Politics” also lagged far behind its rivals during weekend coverage of Syria on Aug. 31. MSNBC’s ratings are down double digits from a year ago overall, with viewership of primetime mainstays such as Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell nearly 50 percent lower than in 2012.

Via: WFB

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FOX, CNN see triple-digit jumps for Saturday Syria announcement; MSNBC falters

President Barack Obama’s Saturday announcement that he would seek congressional authorization for a strike on Syria gave two of the three major cable news channels a big ratings bump.

CNN earned the early lead during the 1 p.m. ET hour in both total viewers and in the coveted 25-54 demo. CNN also eked out a win over Fox News for the 25-54 demo during the 12 p.m.-5 p.m. ET time slot, but Fox News won the overall rating contest.

Both Fox News and CNN interrupted their normally scheduled programing for live Syria coverage during the pivotal 1 p.m.-5 p.m. ET slot.

Meanwhile, left-leaning MSNBC saw a 19-percent dip in its numbers from the weekend before in which it went wall-to-wall with events related to the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream Speech” at the 1963 march on Washington.

12-5PM/ET

Time Period Averages, Live+SD
Crisis in Syria (8/31/13) vs. previous week (8/24/13)
Total coverage was from 12-5p
				P 2+		P 25-54
Network	Period	Time	Days	(000s)	% diff	(000s)	% diff
FOXN	08/31/13-08/31/13	12:00P -05:00P	_____S_	971	-	235	-
FOXN	08/24/13-08/24/13	12:00P -05:00P	_____S_	652	49%	102	130%
CNN	08/31/13-08/31/13	12:00P -05:00P	_____S_	926	-	242	-
CNN	08/24/13-08/24/13	12:00P -05:00P	_____S_	397	133%	115	110%
MSNB	08/31/13-08/31/13	12:00P -05:00P	_____S_	390	-	124	-
MSNB	08/24/13-08/24/13	12:00P -05:00P	_____S_	484	-19%	153	-19%

In overall total day, from 3 a.m. to 3 a.m. on Saturday, Fox News won handily.

TOTAL DAY

Time Period Averages, Live+SD
Crisis in Syria (8/31/13)
				P 2+	P 25-54
Network	Period	Time	Days	(000s)	(000s)
FOXN	08/31/13-08/31/13	03:00A -03:00A	_____S_	772	183
CNN	08/31/13-08/31/13	03:00A -03:00A	_____S_	470	151
MSNB	08/31/13-08/31/13	03:00A -03:00A	_____S_	364	154

Via: Daily Caller

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US Credit Rating Cut by Egan-Jones ... Again

Ratings firm Egan-Jones cut its credit rating on the U.S. government to "AA-" from "AA," citing its opinion that quantitative easing from the Federal Reserve would hurt the U.S. economy and the country's credit quality.

Getty Images

The Fed on Thursday said it would pump $40 billion into the U.S. economy each month until it saw a sustained upturn in the weak jobs market. (Read more: Fed's 'QE Infinity' — Four Things That Could Go Wrong)

In its downgrade, the firm said that issuing more currency and depressing interest rates through purchasing mortgage-backed securities does little to raise the U.S.'s realgross domestic product, but reduces the value of the dollar.

In turn, this increases the cost of commodities, which will pressure the profitability of businesses and increase the costs of consumers thereby reducing consumer purchasing power, the firm said.

In April, Egan-Jones cuts the U.S. credit rating to "AA" from "AA+" with a negative watch, citing a lack of progress in cutting the mounting federal debt.

Via: CNBC

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