CNN Rates High For Quake Coverage, Tops MSNBC Daytime in February

On Saturday, February 27, the day of the 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile, CNN was the #1 cable news network in total day among both total viewers (1.453 million) and adults 25-54 (550k). FNC followed with 1.366m/422k and MSNBC had 571k/242k respectively.  CNN was the #1 cable news network in primetime on Saturday among adults 25-54 with 315k, FNC had 308k and MSNBC posted 245k.

For the month of February, excluding MSNBC’s Olympic coverage, CNN topped MSNBC in during the daytime (M-F/9 am until 5pm) and in total day (6 am–6 am) in both total viewers and in the key demo adults 25-54. In head-to-head comparisons with MSNBC’s daytime non-opinion news programming, CNN averaged 554k vs. 286k in total viewers (+94% advantage) and 125k vs. 63k in adults 25-54 (+98%) -- with MSNBC placing either fourth or fifth throughout the day. At 5 pm and at 6 pm both Hardball and The Ed Show placed third behind FNC and CNN’s Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and at 7 pm, Hardball was fourth, trailing behind FNC, HLN and CNN among adults 25-54.

In the morning (6-9 am), HLN and CNN’s American Morning outperformed MSNBC’s Morning Joe among adults 25-54 with HLN averaging 206k, CNN posting 122k, and Morning Joe trailing with 106k. In primetime, CNN is the only cable news network that provides non-partisan programming representing all points of view.

In February, CNN reached 100.9 million viewers, FNC had 91 million, HLN posted 85.5 million and MSNBC (excluding Olympics) had 80 million.