Fox News Again Attracts the Most Convention Viewers

The shift of Republican convention viewers to cable’s Fox News Channel continued Wednesday as that network pulled in 5.9 million viewers during the 7 to 8 p.m. Pacific time slot with coverage of speeches by Sen. Zell Miller (D-Ga.) and Vice President Dick Cheney.

That far exceeded the 4.5 million who watched on NBC, as well as the audiences for ABC (3.3 million), CBS (2.6 million) and PBS (2 million). Fox also overtook its broadcast rivals Tuesday, its first such ratings triumph.

Overall, the audience on broadcast and cable networks combined was roughly the same as it was for the equivalent hour of the Democratic National Convention in July, according to figures from Nielsen Media Research.

NBC’s audience Wednesday was slightly higher than it was for the third day of the Democratic convention. Comparable audience numbers for ABC, CBS and PBS were sharply down.

By contrast, Fox’s audience soared Wednesday, up from just 1.6 million for the same hour of the Democratic convention. MSNBC and CNN tied with 1.2 million each from 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday; both lost viewers compared with the Democratic convention.

Comedy Central reported that “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” beat its cable-news competition during the 11 to 11:30 p.m. time slot Tuesday and Wednesday among young adults, an increasing number of whom have told pollsters that they turn to the fake news show to stay informed about current events.