On Sunday afternoon, President Biden announced he would no longer seek re-election as the Democratic Party nominee for President. In the aftermath, both Fox News and ABC News led coverage of the decision.
The President published his announcement just after 1:45 PM Sunday afternoon, launching cable and network news organizations into breaking news mode.
In the immediate aftermath of the decision, Fox News led cable outlets as it eclipsed 3 million total viewers from 2-11 PM ET. CNN and MSNBC battled for second place throughout the day. CNN experienced a bump right after the announcement, reaching up to 1.9 million viewers before 5 PM ET. The network faltered throughout the day, dropping to 1.5 million viewers from 5-7 PM ET and down to 1.2 million from 8-11 PM ET. MSNBC saw between 1.8 and 1.9 million from 3-11 PM ET.
From 7-9 PM ET, ABC News led the network news sector with 3.6 million viewers, the biggest average audience of the day’s coverage, according to Nielsen. It just barely beat out CBS News, which saw an audience of 3.4 million during the two-hour window. NBC News lagged behind with 2.3 million viewers.
Additionally, the network news organizations saw higher viewership from the Adults 25-54 demographic than its cable news competition. ABC News featured 672,000 viewers in the demo, while CBS News (562,000), and NBC News (494,000) weren’t far behind.
In compassion, Fox News’ largest audience in the demo came during the 3-5 PM ET window with 593,000 viewers. CNN’s best finish in the sector also came during that timeslot, with 508,000. MSNBC was well behind its competition in this regard, as it’s top finish with persons in the coveted demographic only saw 272,000 viewers in that same 3-5 PM ET timeslot.
