The Fox News-Obama administration dustup is boosting not only primetime but also shows fronted by Shepard Smith and others.
The ongoing feud between the Obama administration and Fox News Channel continues to be a boon for the network, which set records in October and is on pace for its most-watched year to date.
FNC stood as the No. 4 cabler in primetime during October -- behind ESPN, TBS and USA -- and opened up even more distance over the other cable newsies.
According to Nielsen estimates for Sept. 28-Oct. 25, Fox News averaged 2.16 million viewers in primetime, more than tripling the delivery for MSNBC (702,000), CNN (665,000) or Headline News (514,000).
The same held true in the core news demo of adults 25-54, where FNC (563,000) nearly matched the combined output of MSNBC (235,000), CNN (187,000) and HLN (186,000).
Every cable news net was down vs. last year (CNN the most), but that's understandable given that October 2008 repped the run-up to the presidential election.
But a comparison of October 2009 and October 2007 shows that Fox has grown its audience by a whopping 59% in total viewers and by 71% in adults 25-54. During the same stretch, MSNBC (up 49% in viewers and 20% in the demo) leap-frogged CNN, which declined 5% in viewers and 22% in 25-54.
Fox News was already having a great year, but the dust-up between the net and the Obama administration has only increased its numbers.
Comparing the two weeks since the White House-FNC battle began (Oct. 12-23) to the two weeks prior (Sept. 28-Oct. 11), Fox News grew its total-day aud by 9% in total viewers (1.31 million vs. 1.21m) and by 14% in adults 25-54 (368,000 vs. 323,000). This came as both CNN and MSNBC drew their smallest monthly numbers of 2009 in October, both total-day and primetime.
It isn't only Fox News' primetime that's benefiting, either, as shows fronted by Bret Baier, Glenn Beck and Shepard Smith all logged their best months of the year in October.
Elsewhere during the month, sports accounted for the 10 most-watched cable telecasts, led by the four weeks of ESPN's "Monday Night Football" and highlighted by the Oct. 5 matchup between Brett Favre's Minnesota Vikings and his old team, the Green Bay Packers. Game drew a record cable aud (21.90 million).
Also on the top 10 list were six postseason baseball games on TBS, led by Game 5 of the series between the Phillies and Dodgers (7.98m), while FX's "Sons of Anarchy" was the top-rated entertainment series in key demos.
Among the nets that had their best October ever were A&E, Bravo, E!, HGTV and Syfy.
Contact Rick Kissell at
rick.kissell@variety.com