Fox News Retakes Top Cable Spot After It Was Dethroned By Hallmark Holiday Movies

Topline

Fox News has retaken its spot at the top of the cable news rankings thanks to a debate between Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that drew 4.7 million viewers and allowed the channel to overtake both ESPN and the Hallmark Channel after weeks of strong viewership numbers for the niche networks.

Key Facts

Fox News was the most popular network in total-day viewership and in primetime last week, with eight of the top-10 most-watched programs belonging to episodes of “Hannity,” “The Five” and “Jesse Watters Primetime.”

The Newsom-DeSantis debate about abortion, gun laws and immigration, among other topics, on last Thursday’s episode of “Hannity” was the second-most watched program across all of cable for the week, falling only to a “Monday Night Football” audience of 7.6 million on ESPN.

"The Great Red State vs. Blue State Debate" more than doubled Sean Hannity's typical audience, the Los Angeles Times reported, and was the show's most viewed telecast of the year.

Fox News averaged 1.9 million viewers in primetime last week—up from 1.3 million the week before—and 1.1 million in total-day viewership to beat every other cable channel.

Key Background

The bizarre debate between the two governors was confirmed to be on the books in September after Newsom slammed DeSantis on Hannity's show for the "embarrassing, pathetic stunt" of flying migrants to Martha's Vineyard and Sacramento. Hannity proposed a debate between the pair and Newsom responded "I would do it with one day's notice with no notes. I look forward to that." The debate saw both men take shots at President Joe Biden’s mental state and Newsom attacked DeSantis for “trying to out-Trump Trump." DeSantis accused Newsom of running a “shadow campaign” for the Democratic nomination and they disagreed over key issues like reproductive rights, crime and the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. Newsom is not running against Biden for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 2024, but his term as California’s governor will end in time to set him up for a potential run in 2028. DeSantis is challenging former President Donald Trump, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and several others for the Republican presidential nomination.

Tangent

Though they didn't break into the top 10, new Hallmark movies released last week still drew impressive viewership numbers. "My Norwegian Holiday" and "A Not So Royal Christmas" each premiered to 2 million viewers on Friday and Saturday, respectively, and “Holiday Road” had 2.1 million viewers. The Hallmark Channel averaged 671,000 viewers at any given time last week, and 1.2 million in primetime to be ranked third in both categories. ESPN was the second most-watched network in primetime and MSNBC was ranked second in total-day viewership.

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