Fox News Draws Big Audience For Kavanaugh Vote; Nielsen Week In Review
Vice President Mike Pence announces the result of the vote for the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court in Washington. The bitterly polarized U.S. Senate narrowly confirmed Brett Kavanaugh on Saturday to join the Supreme Court, delivering an election-season triumph to President Donald Trump that could swing the court rightward for a generation after a battle that rubbed raw the country’s cultural, gender and political divides. (AP Photo/APTN)
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The Senate’s vote confirming Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh sent viewers flocking to Fox News Channel, which recorded its biggest Saturday audience in more than a decade.

Fox’s daytime audience was bigger than any for the network since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, while its Saturday primetime lineup eclipsed anything since the Iraq War in 2003, the Nielsen company said.

Kavanaugh’s victory after a lengthy confirmation battle benefited the network that’s a favorite of people friendly to his cause.

Fox reached 4.34 million viewers for the Senate vote. Rivals CNN and MSNBC combined had less than half of that audience, as many of Kavanaugh’s opponents clearly couldn’t stomach watching the vote.

It was closer on Friday for what proved the decisive moment — when Maine Sen. Susan Collins announced her choice, insuring that Kavanaugh’s nomination would succeed. At that hour, Fox had 3.27 million viewers, CNN had 1.37 million and MSNBC had 1.36 million, Nielsen said.

Kavanaugh’s nomination received more coverage on the broadcast evening news programs than any other Supreme Court nominee over the past 30 years, topping the proceedings involving Clarence Thomas, according to news consultant Andrew Tyndall.

Those numbers don’t even take into account cable news and its endless coverage; Fox and MSNBC didn’t exist at the time of Thomas’ nomination.

Meanwhile, NBC scored a primetime victory over CBS for the second week of the television season.

Sunday night NFL football on NBC provided the margin, but the network is also showing strength with its entertainment offerings.

The new drama “Manifest” appears to be a hit. Its debut episode was watched some eight million times within a week on a time-shifted basis, second only to “Roseanne” for the biggest such “lift” for a show ever recorded.

For the week, NBC averaged 7.5 million viewers in primetime. CBS was second with 6.9 million, Fox had 6 million, ABC had 4.7 million, Univision had 1.3 million, Telemundo and the ION Network tied with 1.19 million and the CW had 700,000.

Fox News was the most popular cable network, averaging 3.38 million viewers in primetime. ESPN was second with 3.21 million, TBS had 2.98 million, MSNBC had 1.72 million and USA had 1.12 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 8.1 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” was second with 7.6 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.7 million.

Below are primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Oct. 1-7. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.

1. NFL Football: Dallas at Houston, NBC, 18.59 million.
2. NFL Football: Kansas City at Denver, ESPN, 13.54 million.
3. NFL Football: Indianapolis at New England, Fox, 13.27 million.
4. “Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick,” NBC, 12.82 million.
5. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 12.3 million.
6. “NCIS,” CBS, 12.13 million.
7. “The OT,” Fox, 10.75 million.
8. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 10.69 million.
9. “The Voice” (Monday), NBC, 10.06 million.
10. “The Voice” (Tuesday, NBC, 9.4 million.
11. “FBI,” CBS, 9.3 million.
12. “Football Night in America,” NBC, 8.97 million.
13. “This is Us,” NBC, 8.87 million.
14. “Chicago Med,” NBC, 8.84 million.
15. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 8.57 million.
16. “Manifest,” NBC, 8.45 million.
17. “God Friended Me,” CBS, 8.37 million.
18. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 8.36 million.
19. “NFL Pre-Kick,” Fox, 8.15 million.
20. “The Neighborhood,” CBS, 8.11 million.

ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co.; CBS is a division of CBS Corp.; Fox is owned by 21st Century Fox; NBC is owned by NBC Universal.

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