MSNBC and CNN saw huge first-quarter gains in TV viewership, The Hill reports. Fox News, on the other hand, delivered the best quarter in cable news history.
Fox News finished first in both total day and primetime viewership (8-11 p.m.) according to Nielsen Research figures, while "The O'Reilly Factor" recorded its highest-rated quarter ever.
The network, out front for the 61st week in a row, averaged 1.7 million total day viewers compared to 823,000 for CNN and 776,000 for MSNBC.
MSNBC also made history, scoring its highest ratings in a quarter in the network's 20-plus years on air while CNN recorded its most watched first quarter since 2003.
MSNBC grew more than any other cable news network compared to the same first quarter in 2016 — by 61 percent in primetime total viewers (1.43 million) and 49 percent in the 24-to-54 age demographic (337,000).
CNN averaged 411,000 primetime viewers while "The Lead with Jake Tapper" at 4 p.m. showed tremendous growth. The show increased its total viewership by 39 percent and viewership in the 25-54 demographic by 56 percent.
MSNBC's Rachel Maddow continued her success in the demographic by finishing first for the third week in a row.
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