On Tuesday, CNN managed to beat Fox News in the 25-54 demo at every hour. The success could be in part because CNN had live coverage of the Ferguson riots around the clock, with CNN International being simulcast and Jake Tapper anchoring in the overnight hours. CNN has seen ratings success with the Ferguson coverage, battling Fox News on Monday as well. Despite criticism of his coverage, Don Lemon had the highest demo ratings of cable news on Tuesday. Lemon had 981,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo while a repeat of The O’Reilly Factor got second place with 539,000 viewers. At 9 PM, Anderson Cooper’s continuing coverage was able to quadruple that of Rachel Maddow’s, 900,000 to 225,000.
This was the second day in a row that some Fox News shows got second. On Monday, all of Fox News shows from 4 PM to midnight had gotten second as well. This includes The O’Reilly Factor, The Kelly File, and The Five, which commonly rank as the top programs in cable news.
In total viewership, there was more of a battle. According to TVNewser, CNN won the hours of 5 AM, noon-2 PM, and 11 PM-1 AM. The CNN shows involved would be Early Start, Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield, Wolf, CNN Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin, CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, and CNN International coverage.