The final Senate vote which resulted in President Trump’s acquittal in the impeachment trial drew a substantial total viewership across the cable news and regular broadcast networks that covered it.
In total, just under 14 million viewers tuned in to see the conclusion of the trial examining whether Trump violated his Constitutional duty in his dealings with Ukraine. The president was found not guilty both on the first article, alleging abuse of power, and the second article, accusing him of obstruction of Congress.
Fox News was by far and away the most watched network during the 4 to 5 p.m. time frame in which the vote took place, scoring 5.5 million total viewers. CBS came second with 2.6 million, followed closely by ABC and MSNBC with 2.2 million and 2 million respectively. CNN drew the smallest viewership with 1.6 million.
That total viewership figure represents roughly a 27% bump from day 1 of the impeachment trial, which drew 11 million viewers across the same five networks, plus NBC.
The key news demographic of adults aged 25-54 told a slightly different story. The top three were in the same order, with Fox New at 923,000, CBS at 548,000 and ABC at 528,000. However, CNN managed to beat MSNBC with 309,000 to 268,000.
Fox News also drew the largest audience during the primetime time period for cable news (considered to be 8 to 11 p.m.) following the vote, with 5 million viewers to MSNBC’s 2.4 million and CNN’s 1 million.
The trial represented the third time in American history that a President was impeached, and also the third time acquittal was the final verdict. After the result, the President made a speech Thursday morning to “discuss our Country’s VICTORY on the Impeachment Hoax!”