Fox News host Tucker Carlson led cable news in viewership for the second quarter of 2020 as each network experienced seismic growth in their audiences.
Carlson averaged a record-setting 4.3 million viewers and 791,000 in the key 25-54 age demographic for the second quarter, according to Nielsen Media Research. That mark was good enough to surpass his colleague, Sean Hannity, who previously held the record for the largest audience for a quarter. Hannity finished the second quarter averaging more than 4 million viewers, which resulted in the highest-rated quarter in the network's history.
Fox News's prime-time lineup, which consists of Carlson, Hannity, and Laura Ingraham, averaged 3.6 million total viewers during the second quarter, which is a 50% increase from the second quarter of 2019.
Although the conservative-leaning network experienced a boom in viewership amid the coronavirus pandemic that has gripped the world and kept people in their homes, it was not the only one.
CNN's prime-time lineup of Anderson Cooper, Chris Cuomo, and Don Lemon had an average audience of 1.8 million total viewers during the second quarter, which is a 137% increase from the year before. MSNBC, which features Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow, and Lawrence O'Donnell during prime time, had 2 million total viewers, which is up 19% from the same period in 2019.
CNN's second quarter was the network's "most-watched quarter ever," according to a press release the network shared.
"CNN had record viewership in both total day and prime time, among total viewers, the biggest audience in CNN’s 40-year history. Every CNN prime time program also hit historic audience levels, each program posting its best quarterly ratings ever," it read.
