Cable news networks see audience increase in November

With this being an election year, it comes as no surprise that cable networks were affected by the coverage. According to MediaPost, some cable news networks saw a boost in viewership during the month of November. Regardless of the spike, ESPN still maintained overall dominance.

ESPN averaged 3 million viewers during prime time in the month of November; however, this is down approximately 16% from November 2011. Coming in second for viewership was the USA Network at 2.6 million, which is down 16% from last year as well. Fox News came in at third for 2.5 million.

The cable news networks had the following gains throughout the political season:

§       Fox News: 2.5 million viewers: 46% gain

§       MSNBC: 1.3 million viewers: 75% gain

§       CNN: 1.1 million viewers: 63% gain

It will be interesting to see in the upcoming months if the news networks can hold onto the increased viewership or if it will go away now that the election is completed.