TV Ratings: Super Tuesday Draws 19 Million Viewers Across Broadcast, Cable News

By Will Thorne

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Super Tuesday drew a substantial 19 million total viewers across all the broadcast and cable news networks combined.

The Democratic primary bonanza, which saw former Vice President Joe Biden surge back into the race, provided a tight ratings ratings tussle across the three major networks that covered it, as well as the cable news outlets.

Overall, Fox News was the most watched network with 4.17 million viewers tuning in, while CNN won the coveted 25-54 demographic, with just over 1 million. MSNBC wasn’t far behind Fox News in the viewership tally, garnering 3.82 million pairs of eyeballs in its primetime (8-11 p.m.) coverage. CNN notched 2.80 million.

On the broadcast front, NBC came out on top in both total viewership and the 25-54 demo, with 2.94 million in the former and 983,000 in the latter. ABC came second with 2.72 million and 805,000, followed by CBS with 2.64 million and 640,000 in the key demo.

Meanwhile on Fox, “The Resident” benefited from the lack of other scripted fare available, drawing a season high 4.8 million viewers and a 0.8 rating among adults 18-49. That represents the medical drama’s biggest audience since the season 2 finale which was watched by 5 million people. However, “Empire” didn’t do quite as well later in the night. “Empire” returned from an its almost three-month break to a 0.6 rating and 2.46 million total viewers, meaning episode 11 of its sixth and final season was the second lowest rated and least watched in its whole run so far.

The CW aired a replay of “The Flash” to 0.2 rating and 714,000 total viewers, and a “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow” rerun to the tune of a 0.1 rating and 507,000 pairs of eyeballs.