Categories: OLD Media Moves

Fox Business ratings tops for Brexit

Fox Business Network‘s special coverage of the British referendum to leave the European Union recorded more viewers than rival CNBC on Thursday evening, according to Nielsen Media Research data.

However, CNBC had more viewers in the key 25- to 54-year-old demographic.

The special edition of “Varney & Co.” anchored by Stuart Varney on Fox Business averaged 238,000 total viewers between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m., which was more than CNBC’s “Brexit: UK Decides” special, which averaged 167,000 total viewers.

In the 25- to 54-year-old demographic, the CNBC show averaged 73,000 viewers while the Fox Business show averaged 51,000 viewers.

From 7 p.m., when Fox Business began airing content about Brexit, until 1 a.m., it averaged 241,000 viewers while CNBC averaged 188,000 viewers. However, in the 25- to 54-year-old demographic, CNBC averaged 66,000 viewers to 40,000 for Fox Business.

It’s the first time that Fox Business beat CNBC during primetime breaking news.

Nielsen has acknowledged that it can’t accurately measure CNBC’s audience, according to a letter it sent to the business network. Many CNBC viewers watch in offices and at trading floors.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.