(Image: Supplied)

The Murdoch media soap opera that is Fox News continues as American viewers desert the right-wing propaganda vehicle now that Donald Trump has gone. We have seen Fox’s numbers weaken considerably from the election on November 3, down roughly 20% from a year ago.

The collapse was amply illustrated in the peak inauguration day figures from 11am to 1pm US Eastern Time on Wednesday. CNN led with 9.07 million viewers, MSNBC was second with 6.14 million and Fox News was a distant third with 2.57 million. Back in 2017 Fox won the day with a record (for a cable news network) of 10.5 million viewers.

And there was another defeat for Trump on his final day in office — 40 million people watched the swearing on all networks for the half hour from 11.45am to 12.15pm, 1.5 million more than watched Trump’s swearing.

Here in Australia nearly 50,000 people watched from 3.45am to 4.45am — Nine “won” with 16,000 people on average for that hour from the ABC and SBS. It helped lift audiences for ABC News Breakfast and Nine’s Today.

Seven’s Sunrise saw no impact. They were lower than the previous Thursday whereas News Breakfast and Today saw rises of 34,000 and 17,000 respectively.

Last night Seven from Ten and Nine. I’m A Celebrity with 885,000 national viewers was the most watched non-news program.

In breakfast, Sunrise, 441,000/246,000; ABC News Breakfast, 337,000/232,000; Today, 325,000/220,000.

In regional markets it was Seven News with 475,000; Seven News 6.30; 451,000, 7pm ABC News, 288,000; I’m A Celebrity, 256,000; Nine News 6.30, 255,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (26.3%)
  2. Ten (23.2%)
  3. Nine (22.7%)
  4. ABC (18.2%)
  5. SBS (9.6%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (17.6%)
  2. Ten (15.5%)
  3. Nine (14.4%)
  4. ABC (11.2%)
  5. SBS ONE (5.6%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 10 Bold (3.9%)
  2. 7TWO (3.6%)
  3. 7mate (3.5%)
  4. 10 Peach, ABC News (3.3%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.33 million
  2. Seven News 6.30 — 1.27 million
  3. Nine News — 1.11 million
  4. Nine News 6.30 — 1.06 million
  5. I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here (Ten) — 885,000
  6. 7pm ABC News — 853,000
  7. A Current Affair (Nine) — 827,000
  8. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 676,000
  9. 7.30 Summer (ABC) — 674,000
  10. BBL Session 1 (Ten) — 596,000

Top metro programs: No program had a million or more viewers.

Losers: Another weak night. The action was in Washington in the very early pre-dawn morning.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Nine News — 878,000
  2. Seven News — 858,000
  3. Seven News 6.30 — 822,000
  4. Nine News 6.30 — 805,000
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) — 587,000
  6. 7pm ABC News – 636,00
  7. 7.30 (ABC) — 447,000
  8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 441,000
  9. Ten News First — 300,000
  10. The Project 6.30 (Ten) — 286,000

Morning (National) TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) — 435,000/246,000
  2. News Breakfast (ABC) — 337,000/232,000
  3. Today (Nine) – 325,000/220,000
  4. The Morning Show Summer (Seven) – 213,000
  5. Today Extra — Summer (Nine) — 135,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 55,000

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. Cricket — BBL (Fox Cricket) — 190,000 
  2. Cricket — BBL (Fox Cricket) — 178,000 
  3. Cricket: Between The Innings (Fox Cricket) — 163,000 
  4. Gold Rush: Parker’s Trail (Discovery) — 57,000
  5. Peppa Pig (Nick Jr) — 47,000