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Saturday Final Nationals: Fox News Channel Delivers Another Record Viewer Mark for Primary Coverage in South Carolina

by Douglas Pucci February 23, 2016, 1:47 pm 9 Comments

There were scarce sampling on the broadcast networks on this Saturday night: NBC was tops in total viewers (4.15 million) while ABC — thanks to the NBA — led in key demos including adults 18-49 (1.0 rating/4 share) and adults 25-54 (1.1/4).

As for ABC’s “NBA Saturday Primetime”, which saw the Golden State Warriors defeat the L.A. Clippers 115-112, it averaged 3.472 million total viewers, ranking as the second-most watched NBA game this season across ESPN networks, excluding Christmas Day.

The game peaked with 4.788 million viewers in the final quarter hour, according to Nielsen.

The telecast also generated a 2.2 U.S. household rating. In the San Francisco market, the telecast delivered a 10.4 rating, which is the best rating ever for an NBA regular-season game on ABC (non-Christmas). In Los Angeles, the telecast delivered a 3.8 rating, making it the highest-rated NBA regular season game on ABC in two years (non-Christmas).

Through seven games, viewership for the NBA on ABC this season is +9 percent, and the U.S. household rating is +8 percent, compared to last season: 4.831 million total viewers and a 2.8 rating.

The three cable news networks — Fox News Channel, CNN and MSNBC — garnered significant attention throughout this Saturday. Combined, they averaged 3.43 million viewers for coverage of the Nevada Democratic caucus (from 3-6 p.m. ET) and 6.28 million viewers for coverage of the South Carolina Republican primary in prime time (7-10 p.m. ET).

Fox News Channel was, by far, the cable ratings leader in South Carolina coverage in both total viewers (3.295 million) and adults 25-54 (588,000). Speeches from a conceding Jeb Bush and a victorious Donald Trump made for the most-watched period ever for the network on a South Carolina primary night. It was the third consecutive Republican election results night (after Iowa and New Hampshire) that Fox News Channel scored an all-time viewer mark for coverage of each respective event.

Meanwhile for South Carolina, CNN drew 1.892 million viewers and 567,000 adults 25-54; MSNBC 1.095 million viewers and 243,009 adults 25-54.

In the late afternoon, CNN bested Fox News in the afternoon for its Nevada Democratic caucus coverage among adults 25-54 (297,000 vs. 225,000) but Fox News was again the total-viewer winner over CNN (1.591 million vs. 1.099 million). MSNBC trailed behind with 735,000 viewers and 140,000 adults 25-54.

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For mobile users, you may scroll this table horizontally.

	PROGRAM	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
	Saturday, February 20, 2016
8-11	Network Average	2.0/4	3091	0.9/5	1.0/4	1.1/4
8:00	NBA Saturday Countdown	1.1/2	1674	0.3/2	0.4/2	0.5/2
8:32	NBA Saturday Primetime: Golden State @ L.A. Clippers (thru 11:07)	2.2/4	3472	1.1/5	1.2/5	1.3/4
	PROGRAM	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average	2.6/5	3908	0.4/2	0.6/2	0.8/3
8:00	Crimetime Saturday: NCIS: Los Angeles (r)	2.2/4	3361	0.3/2	0.4/2	0.6/2
9:01	Crimetime Saturday: Criminal Minds (r)	2.1/4	3205	0.4/2	0.5/2	0.7/2
10:00	48 Hours	3.5/7	5155	0.4/2	0.9/3	1.2/4
	PROGRAM	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average	2.7/5	4149	0.4/2	0.7/3	1.0/3
8:00	Dateline Mystery	3.1/6	4769	0.4/2	0.8/3	1.1/3
10:00	Saturday Night Live (r)	1.9/4	2907	0.4/2	0.7/3	1.0/3
	PROGRAM	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average	0.7/1	1158	0.2/1	0.3/1	0.3/1
8:00	Rosewood (r)	0.8/2	4842	0.2/1	0.3/1	0.4/1
9:00	Jeff Gordon’s Daytona 500 Kickoff Celebration (s)	0.7/1	1076	0.2/1	0.2/1	0.3/1
	PROGRAM	HH/Share	Viewers (000)	Adults 18-34	Adults 18-49	Adults 25-54
8-11	Network Average	0.6/1	1051		0.4/2
5:55	Futbol Mexicano America vs. Cruz Azul (s) (thru 8:05)	0.7/2	1322		0.6/3
8:05	Cronicas de Sabado	0.6/1	997		0.4/1
10:05	Sal y Pimienta	0.7/1	1131		0.4/2

Sub-Demo Breakdowns – Saturday 2/20/16

“NBA Countdown” (ABC)
Women 18-34: 0.3/2
Men 18-34: 0.4/2
Women 18-49: 0.4/2
Men 18-49: 0.5/2

“NBA Saturday Primetime: Golden State @ L.A. Clippers” (ABC)
Women 18-34: 0.8/4
Men 18-34: 1.3/7
Women 18-49: 0.9/3
Men 18-49: 1.4/6

“48 Hours” (CBS)
Women 18-34: 0.6/3
Men 18-34: 0.3/2
Women 18-49: 1.1/4
Men 18-49: 0.7/3

“Dateline Mystery” (NBC)
Women 18-34: 0.5/2
Men 18-34: 0.4/2
Women 18-49: 1.0/4
Men 18-49: 0.6/2

“Jeff Gordon’s Daytona 500 Kickoff Celebration” (Fox)
Women 18-34: 0.2/1
Men 18-34: 0.2/1
Women 18-49: 0.2/1
Men 18-49: 0.2/1

Cable Rankings – Saturday 2/20/16
What follows are the top 20 most-watched shows in prime time on cable for Saturday, February 20:

“America’s Election Headquarters-South Carolina Primary” (Fox News Channel, 9-10 p.m., 2.24 household rating): 3.522 million viewers (0.39 adults 18-49 rating)

“America’s Election Headquarters-South Carolina Primary” (Fox News Channel, 8-9 p.m., 2.18 household rating): 3.433 (0.37)

“Hannity” (Fox News Channel, 10-11 p.m.): 2.418 (0.28)

“The Big Bang Theory” (TBS, 9:30-10 p.m.): 2.165 (0.68)

“NCIS” (USA, 8-9 p.m.): 2.162 (0.36)

“The Big Bang Theory” (TBS, 9-9:30 p.m.): 2.147 (0.64)

“The Big Bang Theory” (TBS, 10-10:30 p.m.): 2.121 (0.71)

“The Big Bang Theory” (TBS, 10:30-11 p.m.): 2.082 (0.73)

“NCIS” (USA, 10-11 p.m.): 2.001 (0.37)

“America’s Choice 2016-South Carolina Primary” (CNN, 9-10 p.m., 1.32 household rating): 2.000 (0.42)

“College Basketball: Kentucky @ Texas A&M” (ESPN, 6:30-8:58 p.m., 1.24 household rating): 1.995 million viewers (0.61 adults 18-49 rating)

“The Big Bang Theory” (TBS, 8:30-9 p.m.): 1.988 (0.58)

“America’s Choice 2016-South Carolina Primary” (CNN, 8-9 p.m., 1.34 household rating): 1.973 (0.36)

“NCIS” (USA, 9-10 p.m.): 1.919 (0.34)

“The Big Bang Theory” (TBS, 8-8:30 p.m.): 1.722 (0.53)

“Game Shakers” (Nickelodeon, 8-8:30 p.m.): 1.684 (0.27)

Movie: “Brave” (2012) (Freeform, 8-10 p.m.): 1.680 (0.59)

“Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn” (Nickelodeon, 8:30-9 p.m.): 1.669 (0.27)

“Property Brothers” (HGTV, 9-10 p.m.): 1.648 (0.46)

“Property Brothers” (HGTV, 8-9 p.m.): 1.573 (0.44)

“America’s Choice 2016-South Carolina Primary” (CNN, 10-11 p.m., 1.03 household rating): 1.551 (0.33)

“House Hunters Renovation” (HGTV, 10-11 p.m.): 1.545 (0.37)

“College Basketball: Purdue @ Indiana” (ESPN, 8:58-10:34 p.m., 0.89 household rating): 1.408 million viewers (0.46 adults 18-49 rating)

“100 Things to Do Before High School” (Nickelodeon, 9-9:30 p.m.): 1.363 (0.22)

“Cops” (Spike, 8-8:30 p.m.): 1.307 (0.42)

Movie: “Magic Mike XXL” (2015) (HBO, 9-10:55 p.m.): 1.080 (0.45)

“Incredible Dr. Pol” (Nat Geo Wild, 9-10 p.m.): 0.967 (0.18)

“Mythbusters” (Discovery, 8-9:01 p.m.): 0.958 (0.32)

“Pitbulls and Parolees” (Animal Planet, 10:00-11:00 p.m.): 0.911 (0.21)

“Telescope” (Discovery, 9:01-10:02 p.m.): 0.901 (0.21)

“Sex Sent Me to the ER” (TLC, 10-11 p.m.): 0.890 (0.23)

“Serial Thriller” (ID, 8-9 p.m.): 0.875 (0.21)

“Serial Thriller” (ID, 10-11 p.m.): 0.869 (0.21)

“Serial Thriller” (ID, 9-10 p.m.): 0.768 (0.18)

“Yankee Jungle” (Animal Planet, 9-10 p.m.): 0.742 (0.19)

“SportsCenter” (ESPN, 10:34 p.m.-midnight, 0.48 household rating): 0.733 million viewers (0.34 adults 18-49 rating)

“Ghost Adventures” (Travel, 9-10 p.m.): 0.713 (0.29)

“Black Sails” (Starz, 9:02-9:57 p.m.): 0.679 (0.21)

“Futbol Mexicano: Chiapas FC vs. Guadalajara” (UDN, 10:03 p.m.-midnight, 0.28 household rating): 0.517 (0.23)

“Forensic Files” (HLN, 9:30-10 p.m.): 0.482 (0.14)

“Outrageous Acts of Science” (Science, 9:01-10:01 p.m.): 0.436 (0.14)

“Futbol Mexicano: Monterrey vs. Veracruz” (UDN, 8:04-10:03 p.m., 0.22 household rating): 0.384 (0.17)

“Monster Energy Supercross: Arlington” (FS1, 8-11 p.m., 0.21 household rating): 0.342 (0.14)

For the entire week of February 15-21, 2016 in Total Day (8 p.m. to 5:59 a.m.), Adult Swim is up +1 percent in total viewership (1.062 million vs. 1.056 million) and down -1 percent among Adults 18-49 (629,000 vs. 634,000) from one week earlier; the network is also down -17 percent in total viewership (1.062 million vs. 1.280 million) and down -13 percent among Adults 18-49 (629,000 vs. 719,000) from the same week one year ago (February 16-22, 2015). (programminginsider.com)

	PROGRAM	HH	Viewers (000)	A18-49 rating
8:00	Dragon Ball Z Kai (r)	0.44	731	0.25
8:30	King of the Hill (r)	0.37	577	0.19
9:00	King of the Hill (r)	0.47	708	0.27
9:30	The Cleveland Show (r)	0.61	934	0.42

10:00	The Cleveland Show (r)	0.76	1204	0.50
10:30	American Dad (r)	0.88	1357	0.56
11:00	Family Guy (r)		1744	0.73
11:30	Family Guy (r)		1623	0.70

TOONAMI – SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2016

	PROGRAM	Viewers (000)	A1849 rating	A1849 (000)
12:00a	Dragon Ball Z Kai	1350	0.61	769
12:30a	Akame Ga Kill	1110	0.50	638
1:00a	Parasyte	905	0.43	542
1:30a	Samurai Champloo	837	0.39	498

2:00a	Naruto: Shippuden	797	0.38	481
2:30a	One Piece	705	0.33	424
3:00a	Kill La Kill (r)	656	0.29	364

	PROGRAM	Viewers (000)	A1849 rating
3:30a	The Cleveland Show (r)	586	0.26
4:00a	The Cleveland Show (r)	600	0.26

4:30a	American Dad (r)	628	0.28
5:00a	King of the Hill (r)	625	0.29
5:30a	King of the Hill (r)	661	0.29

Source: Live+Same Day data, Nielsen Media Research

Tagged with: 100 Things to Do Before High School, 2016 Presidential Election, 48 Hours, Adult Swim, American Dad, Black Sails, Brave, CNN, college basketball, Cops, Criminal Minds, Dateline, Dateline NBC, Family Guy, Forensic Files, Fox News Channel, Freeform, FS1, Game Shakers, Ghost Adventures, Golden State Warriors, Hannity, House Hunters, Incredible Dr. Pol, Jeff Gordon's Daytona 500 Kickoff Celebration, LA Clippers, Los Angeles Clippers, Magic Mike XXL, Monster Energy Supercross, MSNBC, Mythbusters, NASCAR, NBA, NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, Nevada Caucus, Nicky Ricky Dicky & Dawn, Outrageous Acts of Science, Pitbulls and Parolees, Property Brothers, Rosewood, Saturday Night Live, Serial Thriller, Sex Sent Me to the ER, SNL, soccer, South Carolina Primary, SportsCenter, Telescope, The Big Bang Theory, The Cleveland Show, Toonami, Univision, Univision Deportes, Yankee Jungle

Written by Douglas Pucci

Douglas Pucci (a.k.a. “Son of the Bronx”) has worked with Mr. Berman for more than a decade. A Bronx native, NYU graduate and once-intern for VH1's "Pop Up Video," Pucci went on to design, build and maintain websites for various non-profit organizations in his hometown of New York City. He also contributes to the sports website Awful Announcing.

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