Fox News Emerges as Most Popular Way to Watch Impeachment

(Bloomberg) -- About 10 million people watched the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on the six broadcast and cable networks in the first two days, with Fox News drawing the biggest audience, according to Nielsen.

Fox Corp.’s Fox News, known for its pro-Trump commentary, averaged 2.2 million total viewers during its coverage on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to Nielsen ratings supplied by the network. Comcast Corp.’s MSNBC drew 1.9 million viewers on average, and AT&T Inc.’s CNN attracted 1.4 million.

Among the broadcast networks, ViacomCBS Inc.’s CBS attracted 1.7 million viewers, Walt Disney Co.’s ABC averaged 1.5 million and Comcast’s NBC drew 1.4 million.

The viewership numbers on the cable networks reflect how many people tuned in from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. New York time on both days, as some networks cut away from full coverage of the hearings by late afternoon to show other programming.

That included Fox News, which dropped the impeachment proceedings and went to its regular programming during prime time. Sean Hannity, host of the network’s flagship program, brought on Republican Congressman Jim Jordan on Wednesday to criticize the impeachment process.

All six networks saw viewership declines during the second day of impeachment coverage.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gerry Smith in New York at gsmith233@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, John J. Edwards III

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