Fox Business Network hits ratings high in February

Fox Business Network delivered new ratings highs during the business day for the third month in a row in February in both total viewers and the advertiser friendly demo of adults aged 25-54, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Fox Business averaged 137,000 total viewers during the business day in February, compared to an average of 212,000 viewers for CNBC during the same time period. It’s the narrowest gap with CNBC since Fox Business launched in 2007.

The month was led by Stuart Varney’s “Varney & Co.,” which airs from 9 a.m. to noon, delivering 172,000 total viewers and Neil Cavuto’s “Cavuto: Coast to Coast, which airs from noon to 2 p.m., with 136,000 total viewers.

Trish Regan posted 118,000 total viewers with her show “The Intelligence Report.”

In addition, Fox Business Network’s “Lou Dobbs Tonight” beat CNBC for the second consecutive month in total viewers, marking the first back-to-back win in total viewers for the 7 p.m. program. Dobbs averaged 171,000 total viewers, which was a 31 percent advantage over CNBC, which earned 131,000 viewers.

The network’s digital product is also having a strong start to the year. Since the re-launch of FoxBusiness.com, the website had its highest number unique visitors with 5.6 million and had its highest month in total minutes with 129 million for January 2016.

CNBC no longer uses Nielsen to measure its audience, which it believes is higher due to viewers who watch outside of the home.