The early victory call for Mitt Romney in the New Hampshire
primary Tuesday meant a slightly decreased audience for cable news coverage
compared to last week's Iowa caucus race that went into the wee hours of the
morning.
Fox News again topped the ratings, drawing 2.25 million
total viewers and 550,000 in the 25-54 demo in primetime (all the news networks
called the race in Romney's favor at the close of polls at 8 p.m.)
CNN was second with 1.11 million total viewers and 401,000
in the key demo and MSNBC was third with 1.05 million total viewers and 245,000
demo viewers, according to Nielsen fast nationals.
Fox News was up about 4% in total viewers over its prior
four Tuesdays in primetime (not counting the Jan. 3 Iowa Caucus) while gains at
the other networks were more noticeable -- 106% at CNN and 17% at MSNBC. Looking
at the demo, FNC grew 15%, MSNBC was up 21% and CNN improved 164%.
