Co-anchored by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, FOX News Democracy 2020 Topped All of Television in Total Viewers and the A25-54 Demographic
FOX News Channel’s (FNC) primetime coverage of election night 2020 (8-11PM/ET) topped all television networks and set a record for the most-watched election night coverage in cable news history, according to early data from Nielsen Media Research. FNC’s primetime coverage averaged 14,088,000 million in total viewers and 5,952,000 in the 25-54 younger demographic, making it the highest-rated election night coverage in all of television in total viewers and the A25-54 demographic, beating ABC, NBC, CBS and all cable news networks.
Co-anchored by Special Report’s Bret Baier and The Story’s Martha MacCallum (6PM-3AM/ET), FNC’s special presentation delivered 10,878,000 and 4,009,000 million in the 25-54 demo, topping all networks in total viewers and the 25-54 demographic. Additionally, FNC was also the most-watched cable news network in the younger 18-49 demographic with 4.2 million viewers during primetime (8-11PM/ET) and 1.7 million viewers from 6PM-3AM/ET. During last night’s coverage, FNC’s telecast was up in primetime in both categories versus 2016 election programming (up 16% in viewers and up 10% in 25-54 demo) while CNN was down versus four years ago. Presented live from FNC’s headquarters in New York, New York, FNC’s coverage of the 2020 election was the top-rated telecast in all of primetime television last night, beating broadcast networks ABC (6,287,000), CBS (4,485,000) and NBC News (5,794,000). During total day, FNC also reigned supreme, averaging 5,952,000 viewers and 1,960,000 in the younger 25-54 demo for the duration of Election Day coverage.
FOX News Digital experienced a record day of engagement across all key performance indicators, notching triple digit increases in all categories. Compared to election day in 2016, unique devices increased by 101 percent, video starts saw a 181 percent rise, page views were up 105 percent, and time spent was up a whopping 120 percent, according to Adobe Analytics and Apple News.
Additionally, FOX Business Network, which presented live coverage anchored by Neil Cavuto, dominated CNBC’s election coverage helmed by Shepard Smith across all dayparts with both total viewers and the A25-54 demo. During primetime, the network had a triple-digit 453 percent viewership advantage over the rival business network with 647,000 total viewers and a 339 percent lead in the A25-54 demo with 193,000 viewers. Between 6PM – 3AM/ET, FBN continued to outperform CNBC by drawing in 554,000 total viewers and 156,000 A25-54 demo viewers.
Across all FOX News Digital properties there were 11.8 million total livestreams during election day 2020, marking highest day of engagement no the FOX News livestream ever according to Adobe Analytics. The livestream was un-gated at 6PM/ET, so users no longer had to authenticate to access the stream. Additionally, unique devices on the FOX News livestream were up an astonishing 1539 percent and time spent on the livestream was up 635 percent from the average 2020 weekday. Over the course of election day, FOX News Digital peaked at over 3 million concurrent users, a new record across digital properties and doubling election day four years prior.
In addition, all dedicated election pages on FOX News Digital totaled more than any FOX News web day since 11/9/2016 and the FOX News Politics section delivered its highest day of page views, up 187 percent from Election Day 2016 and more than doubling unique devices from the previous presidential election day.
FOX News’ second screen experience (Democracy 2020 Live site), which complements the television experience on FNC, hit highs across unique devices, visits and page views since its launch on 9/29/20. Similarly, FOX News International held a record day of engagement across unique visitors, page views, content starts and minutes spent viewing FNC. Election Day 2020 also marked the highest day of FOX News Android App downloads to date.
On social media, FOX News remained number one in total election-related social engagement among the news competitive set (Facebook and Instagram) and hit its second-highest day of total social engagement behind only Inauguration Day (1/20/17). FOX News drove 6.3 million election-related social interactions, which comprised over half of all election-related social engagement among the news competitive set, according to Socialbakers.
