Fox News Channel rode its live Republican presidential primary debate coverage to the top of the primetime and total day charts during the last week of August.
Fox News averaged 2.8 million viewers in primetime during the week of August 21-27 to lead all cable networks for the ninth straight week, according to Nielsen Numbers supplied by Fox News. The network was bolstered by the August 23 debate, which drew 12.8 million viewers — the most-watched non-sports show on cable in 2023.
MSNBC finished second for the week with 1.5 million viewers, followed by ESPN with 1 million viewers.
HGTV finished fourth with 844,000 viewers and CNN moved into fifth place with 830,000 watchers. Rounding out the top 10 most-watched networks in primetime were NFL Network (745,000 viewers), TLC (689,000), INSP (688,000), Hallmark Channel (670,000) and USA Network (667,000).
Fox News averaged 1.3 million viewers on a 24-hour basis to top the chart for the 34th straight week, followed by MSNBC (991,000 viewers), CNN (613,000), ESPN (526,000) and HGTV (443,000), said Nielsen.
