NEW YORK ā Fox News Channel is airing the Jan. 6 committee hearings when they occur in daytime hours and a striking number of the network's viewers have made clear they'd rather be doing something else.
During two daytime hearings last week, Fox averaged 727,000 viewers, the Nielsen company said. That compares to the 3.09 million who watched the hearings on MSNBC and the 2.21 million tuned in to CNN.
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It completely flips the typical viewing pattern for the news networks. During weekdays when the hearings are not taking place, Fox News Channel routinely has more viewers than the other two networks combined, Nielsen said.
Last Thursday, Fox had 1.33 million viewers for the 2 p.m. Eastern hour before the hearing started ā slightly below its second quarter average but on par for early summer, when fewer people are watching TV.
After the hearing started, Fox's audience's sank to 747,000 for the 3 p.m. Eastern hour and even lower, to 718,000, at 4 p.m. Fox cut away from the hearing at 5 p.m. to show its popular panel program, āThe Five,ā and fans immediately rewarded them: viewership shot up to 2.76 million people, Nielsen said.
The apparent lack of interest explains why the frequently Trump-friendly network stuck with its regular lineup during the committee's only prime-time hearing, while ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and MSNBC all showed the Washington proceedings. āThe Fiveā has also been cable television's most-watched show, on average, for nine months.
ABC won the week in prime time, averaging 3.6 million viewers. CBS had 3 million, NBC had 2.5 million, Fox had 1.6 million, Univision had 1.1 million, Ion Television had 1.04 million and Telemundo had 990,000 viewers.
Fox News Channel led cable networks with an average viewership of 2.17 million in prime time. MSNBC had 1.41 million, ESPN had 1.21 million, HGTV had 938,000 and Hallmark had 777,000.
ABC's āWorld News Tonightā won the evening news ratings race with an average of 6.6 million viewers. NBC's āNightly Newsā had 6.1 million and the āCBS Evening Newsā had 4.5 million.
For the week of June 20-26, the 20 most-watched program in prime time, their networks and viewerships:
1. ā60 Minutes,ā CBS, 6.13 million.
2. āAmerica's Got Talent,ā NBC, 6 million.
3. Stanley Cup Finals, Game 6: Colorado at Tampa Bay, ABC, 5.82 million.
4. Stanley Cup Finals, Game 5: Tampa Bay at Colorado, ABC, 5.15 million.
5. ā60 Minutesā (Sunday, 8 p.m.), CBS, 4.8 million.
6. Stanley Cup Finals, Game 4: Colorado at Tampa Bay, ABC, 4.6 million.
7. Stanley Cup Finals, Game 3: Colorado at Tampa Bay, ABC, 4.1 million.
8. āFBI,ā CBS, 3.82 million.
9. āThe Price is Rightā (Wednesday, 8 p.m.), CBS, 3.74 million.
10. āStanley Cup Pregameā (Monday), ABC, 3.7 million.
11. āStanley Cup Presentation," ABC, 3.69 million.
12. āNCIS,ā CBS, 3.58 million.
13. āThe Neighborhood,ā CBS, 3.57 million.
14. āYoung Sheldon,ā CBS, 3.49 million.
15. āThe Price is Rightā (Wednesday, 9 p.m.), CBS, 3.47 million.
16. āStanley Cup Pregameā (Friday), ABC, 3.27 million.
17. āStanley Cup Pregameā (Wednesday), ABC, 3.262 million.
18. āTucker Carlson Tonightā (Friday), Fox News, 3.255 million.
19. āStanley Cup Pregameā (Sunday), ABC, 3.23 million.
20. āTucker Carlson Tonightā (Thursday), Fox News, 3.19 million.