Americans’ interest in the news cycle, including last week’s presidential address about the Afghanistan war strategy, shows little signs of abating, and cable news networks were the beneficiaries in terms of ratings during August.
FOX News Channel (US) remained in basic-cable’s top spot in prime time, averaging 2.23 million viewers 2+ from July 31 through Aug. 27, according to a Walt Disney Co. analysis of data from Nielsen Holdings. MSNBC (US) was second in the month, registering with 1.85 million viewers, while CNN (US) was sixth with 1.21 million watchers. All three of the major cable news networks posted growth from their July prime-time audience averages of 2.11 million, 1.69 million and 900,000, respectively.
USA (US), benefiting from delayed viewing of limited series, "The Sinner," was third with 1.69 million viewers on average, while HGTV (US) and TBS (US) ranked fourth and fifth with 1.48 million watchers and 1.31 million, respectively.
History (US) (1.16 million viewers on average), Investigation Discovery (US) (1.06 million), A&E (US) (1.04 million) and Discovery Channel (US) (1.03 million) completed basic-cable's top 10 in August prime time.
Finishing below the 1 million average and just out of the top 10 were ESPN (US) with 961,000 and Disney Channel (US) with 938,000.
Underlining the interest in President Trump, as well as domestic and international developments, the news channels secured three of the top five positions on a total-programming day basis in August.
FOX News was first with 1.36 million watchers, while MSNBC was third with 1.01 million and CNN was fourth with 839,000. Nickelodeon ranked second with 1.19 million watchers, while Adult Swim was fifth with 838,000. HGTV (812,000) and Disney Channel (796,000) were next.
During the final week of the month from Aug. 21 through Aug. 27, the upper echelon remained the same in prime time with the top four finishers mirroring their monthly position: FOX News was first with 2.44 million watchers, followed by MSNBC’s 1.85 million, USA’s 1.59 million and HGTV’s 1.42 million.
CNN ranked fifth for the week, garnering 1.36 million viewers on average, ahead of TBS, which tallied 1.28 million viewers. Rounding out the top 10: ESPN (1.19 million), ID (1.08 million), History (1.00 million) and Discovery (918,000). Disney Channel just missed with an average of 911,000 watchers in the final week of August.
Gauged on a total-programming day basis, the top 5 was exactly the same for the week as in the month. FOX News won with 1.45 million watchers on average, ahead of Nick's 1.15 million, MSNBC’s 1.01 million, CNN’s 923,000 and Adult Swim’s 821,000.
Looking at the show roster for the month, the penultimate season of "Game of Thrones" reigned supreme.
The numbers for "The Dragon and the Wolf," the extended 80-minute season seven finale delivered a series-best bow of 12.1 million watchers Sunday, which was up 36% over the season-six conclusion. However, the total does not yet reflect delayed viewing and thus it trails the Aug. 13 and Aug. 6 airings for the purpose of this analysis.
FOX News’ coverage of Trump’s Aug. 21 speech on Afghanistan averaged 5.17 million viewers, while the Aug. 13 installment of "Rick & Morty" on Adult Swim scored with 5.04 million watchers.
"The Sinner," in which Jessica Biel plays a mother who commits a seemingly unprovoked, heinous murder, has picked up a sizable audience when delayed viewing is factored in to rank as cable’s most-watched new cable show.
The show's Aug. 2 debut tallied 3.98 million viewers, while the Aug. 9 installment delivered 3.93 million. The Aug. 23 episode scored with 3.79 million watchers, with the Aug. 16 airing picked up 3.50 million.
The rankings reflect Nielsen live+7 viewing, blended with live+3 from Aug. 14 through Aug. 24 and live + same day from Aug. 25 through Aug. 27.