FOX Business Network’s coverage of the San Bernardino shooting developments helped bolster the network’s ratings on Wednesday, especially in the A25-54 demo.
FOX Business Network saw its ratings begin to rise in the 2pm hour, when news first broke of the shooting, which helped Countdown to the Closing Bell (3p) pull in its highest rated telecast of the year in the demo with 44,000 viewers. In addition, Countdown topped its CNBC rival Closing Bell in the demo by 5 percent.
Strong demo numbers continued throughout FOX Business Network’s special coverage lineup, with Risk & Reward (5p) and Making Money with Charles Payne (6p), both recording their highest rated telecast of the year with 38,000 and 44,000 viewers in the demo respectively. Payne’s 6pm/ET program also topped CNBC’s Mad Money in the demo by 13 percent.
While CNBC went to taped programming at 7pm with a repeat of Jay Leno’s Garage, FBN’s Lou Dobbs hosted a special edition of Lou Dobbs Tonight which also topped CNBC in total viewers 199,000 vs. 165,000.
Additionally, Stuart Varney’s Varney & Co topped CNBC in the demo for the 9AM/ET hour, prior to FOX Business Network’s breaking news coverage. Varney’s first hour had 36,000 viewers in the demo, a 19 percent advantage over CNBC’s Squawk on the Street which pulled in 26,000 viewers in the demo.
