Weekly Cable Ratings: Fox News Breaks the March Madness Press

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Tops basketball-heavy TNT, TBS to remain atop primetime, total day charts

Caden Pierce #12 of the Princeton Tigers dunks during the second half against the Missouri Tigers in the second round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Golden 1 Center on March 18, 2023 in Sacramento, California.
Fox News was able to edge out TNT, TBS and truTV’s March Madness coverage to notch another weekly ratings win. (Image credit: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Fox News Channel withstood a challenge from March Madness-heavy TNT and TBS to remain at the top of the primetime and total-day charts last week, according to Nielsen.

Fox News averaged 1.9 million viewers for the week of March 13-20 to garner its eighth-straight win in primetime, according to Nielsen. TNT finished a close second with 1.8 million viewers, followed by TBS’s 1.7 million viewers and truTV’s 1.1 million watchers. All three networks benefited from early round coverage of the March Madness NCAA men’s college basketball tournament.

MSNBC finished fifth for the week with 1.1 million viewers, followed by HGTV (935,000 viewers), INSP (742,000), FS1 (739,000), History (722,000) and ESPN (710,000).

Fox News topped the total day chart for the 10th straight week with 1.2 million viewers, followed by MSNBC (695,000 viewers), TBS (655,000), TNT (607,000) HGTV (495,000), said Nielsen. ■ 

R. Thomas Umstead
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.