Fox News Channel defeated ABC in weekday primetime and delivered the highest-rated May in network history for a midterm election year, according to data from Nielsen Media Research.In addition to finishing as the third highest-rated network in all of television during weekday primetime, FNC averaged 2.8 million viewers during weekday primetime, surpassing ABC's 2.7 million viewers and matching ESPN despite extensive coverage of the NBA and NHL playoffs.The network also commanded nearly 60% of the cable news audience share across both total day and primetime and accounted for the top 85 cable news telecasts during the month.FOX NEWS BEATS CBS IN PRIMETIME VIEWERSHIP WITH STRONGEST MONTHLY PERFORMANCE IN A YEARFox News Channel delivered the highest-rated May for a midterm election year in the last month.(Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)Across viewership, FNC delivered 210,000 in the advertiser-coveted 25-54 demographic and was also number one on cable news with Asians, Hispanics and upscale viewers throughout the total day in May.By contrast, ABC recorded its lowest-rated May primetime performance of the 21st century among both total viewers and the 25-54 demographic.
"CBS Evening News" also remained below 4 million viewers for the second consecutive month, while "CBS Mornings" posted the lowest-rated May in the program's history with 1.8 million viewers and 296,000 in the 25-54 demographic.Fox News' top show "The Five" once again finished as the top-rated show in cable news, averaging 3.6 million viewers and 317,000 viewers in the key 25-54 demographic surpassing the likes of CBS' "CIA," ABC's "Celebrity Jeopardy!" and ESPN's first-round NBA playoff coverage.At 8 p.m.ET, "Jesse Watters Primetime" led cable news primetime with 3.1 million viewers, while "Hannity" averaged 2.7 million viewers, easily outpacing MS NOW's 9 p.m.
lineup of "The Rachel Maddow Show" and "The Briefing with Jen Psaki."FOX NEWS TOPS ALL NEWS BRANDS ON YOUTUBE WITH STAGG...