Fox News Tops Cable Ratings for First Quarter 2018, ‘Hannity’ Most-Watched Program

The first quarter 2018 cable news ratings are in and Fox News is the No. 1 channel with Hannity the most-watched program.

According to a news release, this marks “65 consecutive quarters” that Fox has dominated “as the highest-rated cable news channel in both total day and primetime,” as reported by Nielsen Media Research.

During the first quarter of 2018, Fox News “averaged 1,445,000 million in total viewers,” and “led basic cable in total viewers.” The new report also details that Fox News is No. 1 network in total daytime and prime-time (8-11 p.m. ET) viewers.

In addition to the total network domination, Fox News’ Hannity is the No. 1 cable news show in total viewers, followed by Rachel Maddow Show, Tucker Carlson Tonight, The Ingraham Angle, and Special Report with Bret Baier.

It is interesting The Ingraham Angle is No. 4 show on cable news, as host Laura Ingraham has recently been caught up in a wave of controversy.

On March 28, Ingraham tweeted about Parkland, Florida shooting survivor David Hogg, and how he had been “Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied,” adding that he “whines about it.”

“Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA … totally predictable given acceptance rates,” the tweet added. Almost immediately the backlash began, with many feeling like Ingraham had ridiculed Hogg unfairly.

Hogg fired back by tweeting out a list of companies who advertised on Ingraham’s show ands encouraged outraged social media users to reach out to them about the hosts comments.

The following day, Ingraham took back to Twitter in an attempt to make amends for her comments.

“Any student should be proud of a 4.2 GPA —[including David Hogg]. On reflection, in the spirit of Holy Week, I apologize for any upset or hurt my tweet caused him or any of the brave victims of Parkland,” she wrote in a series of tweets. “For the record, I believe my show was the first to feature David immediately after that horrific shooting and even noted how “poised” he was given the tragedy. As always, he’s welcome to return to the show anytime for a productive discussion.”

Unfortunately for Ingraham, many saw her apology as less of a sincere olive-branch and more of simply running damage control over the loss of advertisers, which had already begun.

Hogg, refusing her apology, fired back again, “I 100% agree an apology in an effort just to save your advertisers is not enough. I will only accept your apology only if you denounce the way your network has treated my friends and I in this fight. It’s time to love thy neighbor, not mudsling at children.”

Ultimately, Ingraham opted to take a step back and head out on a week-long vacation while some special guests fill in for her.

Making sure to show his support for Ingraham, The Washington Post reported that Fox News co-president Jack Abernethy released a statement saying, “We cannot and will not allow voices to be censored by agenda-driven intimidation efforts.”

“We look forward to having Laura Ingraham back hosting her program next Monday when she returns from spring vacation with her children,” he concluded.