Fox News Channel Dwarfs Cable News Competition in RNC Coverage Ratings

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Though it shouldn't surprise many, Fox News Channel saw a surge in total viewers and the key adults 25-54 demo during Tuesday night's coverage of the Republican National Convention -- easily eclipsing competitors MSNBC and CNN and toppling NBC's network coverage at 10 p.m.

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Overnight Nielsen numbers have FNC tripling its typical Tuesday showing. Ratings peaked between 10:45 and 11:00 p.m. ET, with in 7.2 million viewers and 1.8 million adults 25-54. MSNBC topped out soon after (1.8 million viewers, 555,000 in the demo), with CNN grabbing its largest numbers at 10:15 p.m. (1.5 million viewers, 451,000 in the demo).

For the three-hour primetime block, FNC averaged 5.15 million viewers with 1.17 of them adults 25-54. MSNBC pulled the second-most viewers (1.32 million over CNN's 1.2 million) but fell to third with the key demo (CNN's 368,811 outmatched MSNBC's 337,562).

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The 10 p.m. hour was the most popular across the board, and though FNC's total viewership eclipsed all of the broadcast nets -- ABC, CBS and NBC all aired an hour of RNC coverage -- the cable network was eclipsed by the younger-skewing NBC in the demo. NBC's 1.72 million adults 25-54 gave FNC its only real competition of the night, besting its demo showing for the hour by just 45,000.