No, President Trump – Fox News’ Neil Cavuto Has Seen Viewership Surge, Not a ‘Ratings Drought’
President Donald Trump attacked Neil Cavuto Thursday and Friday, tweeting that the Fox News anchor has “very bad ratings.” However, a review of Nielsen ratings data shows that Cavuto’s 4 p.m. ET show, “Your World,” is seeing immense gains compared to this month last year — while other competitors in that time slot are falling behind their previous numbers.
“So @TeamCavuto has very bad ratings on @foxnews with his Fake guests like A.B. Stoddard and others that still haven’t figured it all out,” the president tweeted Friday. “Will he get the same treatment as his friend Shepherd Smith, who also suffered from the ratings drought?”
For February 2020, “Your World” is the eighth highest-rated cable news program in total viewers, bringing in 2.246 million average total viewers. It’s also the ninth highest-rated cable news show in the advertiser-coveted age demographic of 25-54, bringing in 352,000 total average viewers in that range.
Those numbers are up 45% and 41% from last February, respectively. Last February, “Your World” brought in 1.553 million average total viewers, and of those, 250,000 were in the 25-54 demo.
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CNN’s and MSNBC’s 4 p.m. ET shows have seen decreases in their year-over-year comparisons. CNN’s “The Lead With Jake Tapper” fell 14% in average total viewers, from 946,000 in February 2019 to 813,000 in February 2020. In the demo, “The Lead” fell 27%, from 234,000 to 171,000 viewers between 25-54. MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House,” hosted by Nicolle Wallace, fell 12% in average total viewers, from 1.715 million in February 2019 to 1.506 million this February. In the demo, “Deadline: White House” fell 26%, moving from 224,000 to 166,000.
Cavuto also hosts a Saturday show on Fox News from 10 a.m. ET to 12 p.m. ET, which has seen increases year-over-year as the other two networks have seen decreases in the same time slot. Cavuto’s “Live” brought in 1.914 million total average viewers this month, of whom 321,000 were in the demo. That is a 21% increase over last February’s 1.576 average total viewers and a 16% increase over last February’s 276,000 demo viewers.
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“CNN Newsroom” fell 16% in average total viewers, from 778,000 last February to 656,000 this February. In the demo, CNN’s 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday programming fell 33%, from 224,000 to 149,000.
MSNBC also suffered losses from February of last year to February of this year. Last February, the 10 a.m. ET to 12 p.m. ET programming on that network brought in 1.182 million total viewers, but fell 15% to 1.003 million this February. Moreover, last year’s 173,000 demo viewers for the time slot dwindled 17% to 144,000.
Fox News doesn’t comment when the president attacks their programming or talent, but numerous colleagues of Cavuto’s have defended him over the past 24 hours in addition to the host’s own fact-check on the president in real time at the end of “Your World” Thursday.
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