While FOX News held an overall advantage in both Total Viewers and the key news demographic of Adults 25-54 on day one of trial proceedings on the impeachment of President Donald Trump, CBS took the lead among broadcast networks in viewers while ABC held the advantage in the demo.
During the 12:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. block of media coverage, CBS attracted 1.94 million viewers while ABC held the attention of 1.63 million viewers. NBC took up the rear with just 1.4 million tuning into the network’s coverage, on par with the amount watching CNN. FOX News attracted 2.65 million viewers, tops among all networks, while MSNBC had 1.9 million viewers tuned in.
In the demo, FOX News narrowly beat out ABC with the former attracting 394,000 viewers in Adults 25-54 to the latter’s 385,000 viewers. CBS had 362,000 viewers tuned in to its coverage, followed by NBC with 350,000 viewers. By comparison, CNN attracted 383,000 in the demo, third among all networks, while MSNBC had the smallest demo with 261,000 viewers tuning in.
Following afternoon coverage, ABC and CBS turned back time to their affiliates while NBC continued its coverage from 5:18 p.m. to 7:40 p.m., resulting in more viewers watching the network than any other during the time period. NBC increased its viewership total to 2.8 million during the evening block of coverage while FOX News drew 2.63 million. MSNBC just shy of 2 million viewers while CNN had 1.5 million viewers.
In primetime, FOX News had 3.5 million viewers on average tuned in compared to MSNBC’s 2.5 million and CNN’s 1.5 million.