Fox News viewers tuning out January 6 hearings, ratings show

Fox News Channel made the decision to air the January 6 panel hearings when they occur during daytime hours, but ratings indicate that viewers would rather watch something else.

During the two daytime hearings that took place last week, Fox, according to Nielsen, averaged 727,000 viewers. That figure compares to the roughly 3 million who watched on MSNBC, and the 2.2 million who turned on CNN. 

Typically, Fox outperforms both cable news competitors by leaps and bounds, but viewers are tuning out the hearings. 

According to Nielsen, on June 23, Fox had 1.33 million viewers for the 2 p.m. EST hour, prior to the start of the hearing. When the hearing started, that audience fell to 747,000 and 718,000 in the second hour.

At 5 p.m., when the network cut to its popular panel show "The Five," ratings shots up to 2.76 million viewers. "The Five" has been cable news' most-watch show, on average, for the past nine months.

Fox also opted not to broadcast the special committee's only prime-time hearing, while all other cable news networks did.