Complete Story
12/16/2016
Fox News Channel Crowned 2016’s Most Watched Basic Cable Network
For the first time in its 20-year history, Fox News Channel will finish 2016 as the most-watched basic cable network in primetime and total day.
Fueled by mostly nonstop coverage of Donald Trump’s nose-thumbing race to the White House, FNC locked up the wins both in primetime and in total day, and every hour on the network’s lineup logged double-digit jumps compared to 2015. Fox News bagged its biggest audiences ever both in primetime and in total day with 2.4 million and 1.4 million viewers, respectively.
USA Network tried to get out ahead of FNC’s celebration with its own announcement, boasting it would end 2016 as the No. 1 entertainment cable network in total viewers for an 11th straight year. But mostly, entertainment cable networks just could not come up with scripted storylines as as gob-smacking and ratings-getting as the endless material churned out daily for the cable news networks – and, mostly particularly for FNC viewers – as did real estate developer turned reality star turned GOP hijacker Donald Trump.
Adding to FNC’s victory-lap fun, the network closes out 2016 as the fifth-most-watched primetime in all of television, behind only Big Four broadcasters networks NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox, in order. FNC noted in particular that it beat ESPN, which ranked sixth for the year, also besting USA — though, of course, ESPN is a “sports” network not an “entertainment” net.
