CNN Press Release - Highest Prime-Time Viewership in CNN’s History
Dominates Fox News, MSNBC in Total Viewers all Demographics
CNN.com Breaks Records on Election Day with 30 Million Unique Visitors

CNN’s 2008 Election Night coverage dominated the competition and resulted in its highest prime-time ratings in the network’s 28-year history. CNN topped the cable news competition with 12.3 million total viewers tuning in during primetime (8-11p), a 36% advantage over FNC’s 9 million and an impressive 109% lead over MSNBC’s 5.9 million. Among adults 25-54, CNN was also #1 with 5.8 million, a 48% advantage over FNC’s 3.9 million and 119% lead over MSNBC’s 2.7 million demo viewers. Among younger viewers18-34, CNN was also first with 3.4 million, FNC placed second with 1.8 million and MSNBC was third with 1.4 million.

CNN had the largest gains in prime time compared to 2004 in 25-54, doubling its audience, up 102%, while FNC only increased 4% and MSNBC was up 87%. (This was also reflected in total day where CNN grew the most among 25-54, up 97%, while FNC declined -16% and MSNBC was up 94%.)

CNN.com delivered the largest daily audience in its history with 30 million unique visitors on Election Day, more than doubling the previous record of 13.4 million generated on Super Tuesday of this year.

CNN.com Live, the Internet's only multi-stream, live video news service, smashed previous records by serving 5.3 million live streams on Election Day. The number of live video streams served by CNN.com on Election Day is nearly triple that of its previous daily streaming record, which was set on September 1, 2008 - the first day of the RNC and the day Hurricane Gustav made landfall. CNN.com also served an additional 6.8 million on-demand video streams on Nov. 4.

CNN.com generated 282.5 million page views, also marking the highest day in the site's history and more than doubling its previous record of 103.2 million page views from Super Tuesday of this year. On Election Day, CNN.com's traffic peaked during the 9pm ET hour with 35.6 million page views. CNNPolitics.com also saw record-breaking traffic on Election Day, generating 30.1 million page views - a 43% increase over its previous record. Furthermore, CNN.com's special Election Section alone generated 103.2 million page views. The Political Ticker, the No. 1 political news blog according to Nielsen Online, generated 8.7 million page views, scoring its second best day ever. (Source: Omniture SiteCatalyst, global)


Election Night 2008
8p-11p P2+ P18-34 P18-49 P25-54
CNN 12.292 3.374 6.512 5.817
FXNC 9.027 1.823 4.042 3.922
MSNBC 5.888 1.382 2.672 2.662

Election Night 2008
7p-1a P2+ P18-34 P18-49 P25-54
CNN 11.940 3.517 6.575 5.826
FXNC 7.516 1.518 3.333 3.246
MSNBC 5.821 1.495 2.803 2.635

Photo: E.M. Pio Roda/CNN