It may only be one month, but it was a big month with cable news viewership soaring thanks to a hotly contested presidential election. And even though Fox News recorded the highest-ever primetime viewership in history with an average of 3.939 million viewers they were second to CNN in the advertiser-important 25-54 demo, trailing the cable news pioneer who averaged 948,000 viewers compared to Fox’s 827,000. MSNBC was a distant third.

In the daytime, CNN again ruled the roost in the demo with 558,000 viewers to Fox’s 413,000 and came within a hairsbreadth in total viewers of the longtime cable news king (1.94 million to 1.781 million).

Earlier in the month, MSNBC’s Morning Joe beat Fox & Friends in the weekly ratings for the first time since 2001, signaling potential discontent by conservatives with Fox News after the election.

There have been numerous reports that conservatives are switching their allegiance to Newsmax and One America News to show their displeasure with the way Fox covered the election results, but it is likely to be short-lived, as Fox News stars aren’t about to depart to its low-rated competition any time soon.

Don Irvine serves as the Publisher for Accuracy in Media. He is active on Facebook and Twitter. You can follow him @donirvine to read his latest thoughts. View the complete archives from Don Irvine.

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