Weekly Cable Ratings: Fox News, FS1 Generate Ratings Fireworks Over July 4 Holiday

Christian Pulisic #10 of the United States is defended by Jose María Gimenez #2 of Uruguay during the second half at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on July 01, 2024
Christian Pulisic of the U.S. is defended by Jose María Gimenez Uruguay during the second half of their Copa America match in Kansas City. (Image credit: Getty Images)

Fox News and FS1 dominated the weekly primetime basic-cable ratings over the Fourth of July holiday week as the only two networks to draw more than 1 million viewers. 

Fox News averaged 2 million viewers during the week of July 1 to July 7 for its fifth-straight win in the category, according to Nielsen numbers supplied by the network. 

FS1 finished second with 1.1 million viewers, bolstered by its coverage of the Copa America soccer tournament, including the July 1 Uruguay-United States match that drew 3.7 million viewers. 

MSNBC was third with 912,000 viewers, followed by Hallmark Channel with 795,000 viewers and ESPN with 649,000 viewers.

HGTV finished sixth with 642,000 viewers, followed by USA Network (627,000 viewers), INSP (600,000), CNN (542,000), and History (503,000).

In total day, Fox News easily won for the 26th consecutive week with an average of 1.3 million viewers. MSNBC finished a distant second with 569,000 viewers, followed by ESPN (499,000 viewers), Hallmark Channel (448,000) and CNN (403,000), Nielsen said. 

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.