Neilsen Media Research released 2019 viewership statistics on Monday which offered some very good news for Fox News. Among cable networks, Fox took the top spot in prime time with an average of 2.5 million viewers per night over the last year, a record high for the network. In second place was ESPN with 1.78 million viewers and MSNBC finished third with 1.75. CNN ended the year in 22nd place with an average of 972,000 viewers per night. That’s a real fall from grace for CNN.

The top five shows in cable news were Fox’s “Hannity” with 3.3 million, “Tucker Carlson Tonight” with 3.1 million, MSNBC’s “Rachel Maddow Show” with 2.78 million, Fox’s “The Ingraham Angle” with 2.57 million, and “The Five” at 2.55 million.

Media reporter Joe Concha notes that “Carlson and Maddow switched places in the 2019 rankings compared to the previous year, when Maddow claimed the No. 2 ranking.”

Still, 2.78 million is an impressive showing for Rachel Maddow. I have to say I’m surprised she had such strong numbers after pushing the bogus Trump/Russia collusion story for three years.

Among broadcast networks, CBS finished on top with an average of 7.14 million viewers in prime time. The number two spot went to NBC with 6.33 million. ABC took third place with 5.19 million and Fox TV was fourth, at 4.62 million. Concha points out that Fox TV was the only broadcast network among the four to increase viewership from 2018.