It has been a tumultuous week for Facebook and its associated services like Instagram and WhatsApp. Their worldwide outage lasted the better part of the day on Monday, Oct. 4. On the night prior, CBS newsmagazine “60 Minutes” featured Scott Pelley’s interview with Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen. She had been Facebook’s lead product manager on the civic misinformation team. In the interview, she told Pelley, “The version of Facebook that exists today is tearing our societies apart and causing ethnic violence around the world,” having cited the recent genocide in Myanmar as an example. Haugen added, “There were conflicts of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook. And Facebook, over and over again, chose to optimize for its own interests, like making more money… Facebook has realized that if they change the algorithm to be safer, people will spend less time on the site, they’ll click on less ads, they’ll make less money.“
This October 3rd edition of “60 Minutes” drew 10.32 million viewers, the show’s largest total audience in nine months (since 10.58 million from Jan. 17). Each of those editions significantly assisted by an NFL football lead-in: Steelers-Packers to most of the country on Oct. 3 and, previously, a Browns-Chiefs playoff on Jan. 17.
Top military officials in the Biden administration testified publicly on Sep. 28-29 for the first time before Congress since the full U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan ended America’s longest war. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley both defended the administration’s decision to withdraw although they admitted surprise at how swift the Taliban government had taken over that county. One moment of the testimony that caught immediate attention by right-wing media was when Milley said he spoke with several journalists including Bob Woodward, Carol Leonnig, Philip Rucker and Michael Bender for interviews that were included in different books about the Trump administration, but he claimed to have not yet read any of those books.
Fox News Channel was the top cable news outlet in testimony coverage. Its nearly-5.5 hours on Sep. 28 averaged 1.86 million total viewers and 266,000 in the key 25-54 demo, according to Nielsen Media Research; its almost-4.5 hours in daytime on Sep. 29 drew an average of 1.82 million viewers and 274,000 adults 25-54. These figures more than tripled the total audience that tuned in to MSNBC’s coverage for each day (593,000 total viewers on Sep. 28; 574,000 total viewers on Sep. 29); approximately quadrupled in adults 25-54 (70,000 on Sep. 28; 62,000 on Sep. 29).
MSNBC attracted slight more total viewership for its airing of the Sep. 28 groundbreaking of the Obama Presidential Center at Jackson Park in Chicago, Ill. — near where Michelle Obama had been raised and where Barack Obama began his political career. From 2:49-3:18 p.m. ET, it posted 652,000 total viewers.
For the week of Sep. 27-Oct. 1, Fox News’ late night talk show “Gutfeld” hailed from from Nashville, Tennessee — one of the show’s top-5 rated markets. It averaged 1.99 million total viewers and 379,000 with adults 25-54. Like most previous weeks, it bested NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” with total viewers and ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” across both categories. Host Greg Gutfeld also delivered his second highest-rated week in adults 18-49, averaging 244,000 viewers within that demographic.
Here are the cable news averages for September 27-October 3, 2021.
Total Day (September 27-October 3 @ 6 a.m.-5:59 a.m.)
- Fox News Channel: 1.448 million viewers; 232,000 adults 25-54
- MSNBC: 0.698 million viewers; 82,000 adults 25-54
- CNN: 0.486 million viewers; 102,000 adults 25-54
- HLN: 0.198 million viewers; 59,000 adults 25-54
- CNBC: 0.140 million viewers; 29,000 adults 25-54
- Newsmax: 0.122 million viewers; 16,000 adults 25-54
- The Weather Channel: 0.112 million viewers; 22,000 adults 25-54
- Fox Business Network: 0.092 million viewers; 11,000 adults 25-54
Prime Time (September 27-October 2 @ 8-11 p.m.; October 3 @ 7-11 p.m.)
- Fox News Channel: 2.302 million viewers; 553,000 adults 25-54
- MSNBC: 1.236 million viewers; 147,000 adults 25-54
- CNN: 0.613 million viewers; 134,000 adults 25-54
- HLN: 0.214 million viewers; 59,000 adults 25-54
- CNBC: 0.170 million viewers; 50,000 adults 25-54
- Newsmax: 0.155 million viewers; 21,000 adults 25-54
- The Weather Channel: 0.138 million viewers; 25,000 adults 25-54
- Fox Business Network: 0.052 million viewers; 9,000 adults 25-54
Top 10 most-watched cable news programs (and the top MSNBC and CNN programs with their respective associated ranks) in total viewers:
1. The Five (FOXNC, Wed. 9/29/2021 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.431 million viewers
2. The Five (FOXNC, Mon. 9/27/2021 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.338 million viewers
3. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Tue. 9/28/2021 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.243 million viewers
4. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Wed. 9/29/2021 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.211 million viewers
5. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Thu. 9/30/2021 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.180 million viewers
6. The Five (FOXNC, Tue. 9/28/2021 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.176 million viewers
7. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Mon. 9/27/2021 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.160 million viewers
8. The Five (FOXNC, Thu. 9/30/2021 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.082 million viewers
9. Hannity (FOXNC, Wed. 9/29/2021 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 2.984 million viewers
10. Hannity (FOXNC, Tue. 9/28/2021 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 2.889 million viewers
16. Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC, Wed. 9/29/2021 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 2.468 million viewers
153. Anderson Cooper 360 (CNN, Wed. 9/29/2021 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.919 million viewers
Top 10 cable news programs (and the top MSNBC, CNN and HLN programs with their respective associated ranks) among adults 25-54:
1. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Tue. 9/28/2021 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.528 million adults 25-54
2. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Wed. 9/29/2021 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.521 million adults 25-54
3. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Mon. 9/27/2021 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.520 million adults 25-54
4. The Five (FOXNC, Mon. 9/27/2021 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.511 million adults 25-54
5. Hannity (FOXNC, Wed. 9/29/2021 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.494 million adults 25-54
6. The Five (FOXNC, Wed. 9/29/2021 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.489 million adults 25-54
7. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Thu. 9/30/2021 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.476 million adults 25-54
8. The Five (FOXNC, Tue. 9/28/2021 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.463 million adults 25-54
9. The Ingraham Angle (FOXNC, Wed. 9/29/2021 10:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.451 million adults 25-54
10. Gutfeld! (FOXNC, Wed. 9/29/2021 11:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.436 million adults 25-54
26. Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC, Tue. 9/28/2021 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.352 million adults 25-54
98. Anderson Cooper 360 (CNN, Wed. 9/29/2021 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.226 million adults 25-54
153. Forensic Files “Wood-Be Killer” (HLN, Thu. 9/30/2021 1:00 AM, 30 min.) 0.153 million adults 25-54
Source: Live+Same Day data, Nielsen Media Research