Donald Trump‘s third criminal indictment gave a big ratings boost to cable news, particularly MSNBC, which jumped ahead of Fox News on Tuesday, August 1, with 2.63 million viewers.
The former president was indicted on multiple charges of conspiracy and obstruction relating to his attempts to overturn the 2020 election result. MSNBC aired special coverage of the indictment, which made the network the No. 1 most-watched cable news channel on Tuesday, according to Nielsen-live-plus-same-day figures.
Fox News placed second with 2.19 million total viewers, while CNN came in third with 1.06 million viewers.
MSNBC also won the key demo rating with 350,000 viewers among adults 25-54. Fox News came in second with 279,000 viewers, and CNN placed third with 208,000 viewers.
This is the second time a Trump indictment has launched MSNBC to the top of the ratings charts. In June, Trump was indicted on charges of mishandling secret government documents. The coverage on the evening of the indictment saw MSNBC average 2.4 million viewers, compared to 2.1 million for Fox News and 1.1 million for CNN.
The latest indictment was covered in detail by MSNBC from 8 pm to 10 pm on Tuesday, with Rachel Maddow, Ari Melber, Joy Reid, Chris Hayes, Lawrence O’Donnell, Stephanie Ruhley, and Alex Wagner handling the coverage across the two hours.
Rival networks stuck with their regular programming. Fox News aired Jesse Watters Primetime and Hannity in their regular time slots, while CNN broadcasted Anderson Cooper 360 and The Source with Kaitlin Collins.
Trump faced his first indictment in March over hush-money payments made to an adult film star. And there is a potential fourth indictment on the horizon in Georgia, where authorities are looking into whether the former president’s efforts to pressure an election official to alter the 2020 vote results constitute a crime.