The second day of impeachment hearings drew a TV audience about the same size as the first day’s coverage.
Friday’s coverage across six major networks — ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News and MSNBC — averaged about 12.73 million viewers from 9 a.m.-noon and 1-2 p.m. ET. That’s on par with the 13.1 million people who watched Wednesday’s coverage (to be precise, Friday’s six-network coverage was down by a slight 3 percent).
As was the case Wednesday, Fox News had the biggest total audience over the time periods when all six networks were offering coverage. It averaged 2.72 million viewers, about 110,000 more than MSNBC’s 2.63 million. CBS was next with two million viewers, followed by ABC (1.93 million), NBC (1.83 million) and CNN (1.75 million).
The broadcast networks’ coverage improved slightly, with the collective audience for ABC (1.93 million), CBS (2 million) and NBC (1.83 million) of 5.76 million improving by about 100,000 viewers over Wednesday.
NBC had the largest viewership in the key news demographic of adults 25-54, averaging 512,000 people in that age range. ABC (483,000) and CBS (432,000) followed, then came Fox (398,000), MSNBC (378,000) and CNN (330,000).
Cable news stuck with the hearings and related coverage throughout the day, and the numbers for the three channels also were pretty well in line with Wednesday. Fox News led the cable pack with 2.83 million viewers from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m., vs. 2.89 million on Wednesday. MSNBC’s 2.7 million viewers was even with day one, and CNN’s 1.75 million was down a bit from 1.86 million.
In the 25-54 demo, Fox News had 412,000 viewers from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m.; MSNBC had 393,000; and CNN had 381,000. All three channels were well above their typical daytime averages.
