As in previous months and years, Fox News dominated the list of the top 30 cable TV news shows of 2011.
Fox programs held on to the top thirteen spots, with Bill O’Reilly in the No. 1 position, according to The Huffington Post.
While Fox News maintained its ratings dominance and will celebrate its 10th year as the number one cable news channel in January, the network’s 2011 ratings were down from 2010.
The HuffPo story reported that MSNBC ranked second in 2011, and beat rival CNN in prime time programming in both total viewers and in the key demographic that advertisers love (adults age 25-54). During the last quarter of the year, MSNBC made significant changes to its lineup, moving “The Ed Show” to 8 p.m., and “Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell” to 10 p.m.
CNN was up 29 percent in prime time. The network’s highest rated show was the 10 p.m. repeat of “Anderson Cooper 360,” which beat MSNBC in the key demo and was up 16 percent in total viewers from 2010. MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” beat CNN at 9 p.m. and was the highest-rated non-FOX show. “Piers Morgan Tonight,” also airing at 9 p.m., was up 24 percent in the key demo and eight percent in total viewers in 2011.
View a slideshow of the top 30 cable news programs here.
