Viewers flocking to news outlets for info

The coronavirus outbreak and ongoing election programming lift Fox News as well as CNN and MSNBC.

With the coronavirus pandemic dominating last week’s coverage, prime-time viewership for Fox News Channel was up 11.6% from the previous week, while MSNBC’s viewership was up 12.3%.

Fox News Channel averaged 3.54 million viewers between March 9 and Sunday to be the most-watched cable network for the eighth consecutive week, according to live-plus-same-day figures released Tuesday by Nielsen.

Fox News Channel averaged 3.17 million viewers from March 2-8, which included coverage of the Super Tuesday presidential primaries.

MSNBC was third among cable networks after three consecutive secondplace finishes, averaging 2.30 million viewers, a week after averaging 2.049 million.

CNN was second for the week, thanks to its coverage of Sunday’s Democratic presidential debate, averaging 2.84 million viewers, a week after averaging 1.32 million, third among cable networks.

The debate between former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the first one-onone debate of the 2020 campaign, averaged 9.90 million viewers, first among the week’s cable programs and third overall.

Viewership was up 33.7% from the last debate whose only English-language coverage was on cable, the six-candidate debate Jan. 14 on CNN that averaged 7.40 million viewers.

An additional 846,000 watched Sunday’s debate on the Spanish-language network Univision.

Fox News Channel swept the second through sixth spots among the week’s prime-time cable programs, topped by its coverage of President Donald Trump’s speech to the nation Wednesday, which averaged 6.44 million viewers, 16th overall.

A 1-2 finish by “NCIS” and “60 Minutes” helped CBS to its fifth consecutive weekly victory and 10th in the 25-week-old 2019-20 season, averaging 6.17 million viewers.

ABC was second for the second consecutive week after back-to-back third-place finishes, averaging 4.37 million viewers. NBC was third, averaging 3.71 million viewers.

Fox averaged 3.02 million viewers for its 15 hours, 12 minutes of programming, its sixth consecutive fourthplace finish among the broadcast networks following its Super Bowl LIV telecast.

CBS, ABC and NBC each aired 22 hours of prime-time programming.

“NCIS” averaged 10.76 million viewers for its first original episode since Feb. 18. “60 Minutes” averaged 10.44 million viewers to finish second, the third consecutive week it had finished first or second.

CBS also had the week’s most-watched comedy, “Young Sheldon,” fourth overall, averaging 8.89 million viewers.

NBC had the week’s top alternative series, “The Voice,” fifth for the week averaging 8.73 million viewers, one spot ahead of the season finale of “The Bachelor” on ABC, which averaged 8.55 million viewers.

“The Masked Singer” was Fox’s most-watched program for the fifth time in the six weeks since its Super Bowl telecast, averaging 7.25 million viewers, 11th overall.