For those of you that are MEASURING people based on YOUR own viewing habits instead of UNDERSTANDING them based on their viewing habits, here are the Evening News viewership numbers.
Note: I’ve been trying to find the right numbers off and on for years. I just wasn’t using the RIGHT search terms. All the GREAT numbers you hear for Fox News are the CABLE TV numbers. Don’t forget that ABC, CBS, and NBC are Over the Air (OTA) BROADCAST networks. Yes, people STILL use an antenna to watch TV. 19 million homes do that. 15% of US households. And that number is INCREASING. ATSC 3.0 means OTA broadcasts will be 4K resolution and “free”. And the LOCAL programming of the Big 3 network affiliates is what people are watching NOT “news”.
“LOCAL news at 5” broadcasts are as biased as any Big 3 or Cable “News” shows. And most of the Cable News shows are COMMENTARY not “hard” news. And any show’s host’s political bias shows through even on the hardest Evening News broadcast.
Enough opining, here are the numbers. You decide if they answer the question:
Why doesn’t everybody think like me? Are they blind? No, but they are ignorant.
Evening News Shows (local news generally ends by 7 p.m., the following shows air at 6:30 p.m. or 7 p.m.)
| ABC World News Tonight | 8,000,000 |
| NBC Nightly News | 6,657,000 |
| CBS Evening News | 4,822,000 |
| This is where most people get their “news” | 19,479,000 |
| Fox News 5 p.m. The Five (IMO not “hard” news.) | 3,256,000 |
| Fox News 6 p.m. Special Report | 2,349,000 |
| Fox News 7 p.m. Jesse Watters Primetime (Again, not “hard” news.) | 2,781,000 |
Six times the number of people watch “network” news than Fox News in the evening. In Primetime six times the number of people do NOT watch cable news. Those 10 million viewers likely switch to some streaming service. And the other 300 million viewers aren’t watching cable news channels either.
Primetime (shows starting 8 pm to 10 pm)
Surprise! The Big 3 networks do NOT have “primetime” news shows. But here are the viewership numbers for entertainment shows.
In Primetime we compare Fox News COMMENTARY with entertainment.
| ABC | 2,920,000 |
| CBS | 2,840,000 |
| NBC | 2,430,000 |
| Fox | 1,340,000 |
| CW | 276,000 |
| This doesn’t include all the other non-news viewers | 9,806,000 |
| Fox News 8 p.m. Tucker Carlson Tonight | 3,246,000 |
| Fox News 9 p.m. Hannity | 2,585,000 |
| Fox News 10 p.m. The Ingraham Angle | 2,042,000 |
Total Day Viewers for Cable News
| Fox News | 1,319,000 |
| MSNBC | 701,000 |
| CNN | 425,000 |
| Newsmax | 90,000 |
| NewsNation | 96,000 |
So, do these numbers answer the question: Why doesn’t everyone think like me? Trump won. Epps is a government asset. We shouldn’t be in Ukraine (IMO).
Instead of: Ukraine is winning. China is our friend. Abortion is just another form of birth control. Anyone who makes it into America should get all the benefits of citizenship because they are good people.
At best, 2% of the American adult population watches “conservative” “news” at some point in the day. How often do you randomly see someone you know when you are out shopping? That is the likelihood that anyone you see has watched “conservative” “news” and thinks like you.