CNN’s Biden Town Hall Still Trails Fox News, MSNBC in Ratings

CNN’s Biden Town Hall Still Trails Fox News, MSNBC in Ratings
Lindsey Ellefson, The Wrap
Thu, July 22, 2021, 1:44 PM

CNN’s Wednesday night town hall with President Joe Biden failed to draw as many total average viewers as programming on MSNBC and Fox News.

The event ran from 8 to 9:30 p.m. ET. In that time, CNN’s town hall drew an average of 1.469 million viewers, with 306,000 in the advertiser-coveted age demographic of 25 to 54, according to Nielsen Media Research ratings data.

Comparatively, Fox News drew 2.695 million average total viewers and 464,000 in the demo, beating CNN by both metrics. MSNBC took in 1.602 million total average viewers, a win over CNN, but fell to third place in the demo with 214,000.

Note that Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” which airs at 8, featured regular programming, but the 9 p.m. show, “Hannity,” featured a town hall event with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Marco Rubio, Rep. Maria Salazara and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez. MSNBC ran “All In With Chris Hayes” and “The Rachel Maddow Show.”

The Biden town hall, the second of his presidency, was promoted across CNN. The president discussed COVID-19 vaccines, some Americans’ hesitancy toward getting the shot, his bi-partisan infrastructure plan, the economy and more.

Temple wrote:

Biden did well for merely a 'town hall 'meeting- not a presidential speech.
He answered all the questions with ease and to the point.
It was quite informative.

Biden’s Town Hall was 'incoherent gibberish even by his low standards’