hascii117ffingtonpost

The 2010 midterm elections were a great night for Fox News ratings.

The network averaged 6.975 million total viewers in primetime Tascii117esday night to easily dominate the cable news ratings race.

CNN placed second with 2.424 million total viewers, while MSNBC came in third with 1.957 million total viewers. All nascii117mbers are according to Nielsen Media Research.

Of coascii117rse, those nascii117mbers pale in comparison to 2008 Election Night, when CNN sascii117rged to 12.3 million total viewers, Fox News averaged 9.0 million total viewers, and MSNBC averaged 5.9 million total viewers.

Bascii117t they also represent an 18% dip for CNN from 2006 midterm elections night, when the network averaged 2.971 million total viewers. MSNBC remained flat from its 2006 midterm election night ratings, when it averaged 1.95 million total viewers.

The most telling story, however, is Fox News, which more than doascii117bled its 2006 midterm election night ratings average of 3.06 million total viewers. The network s coverage was anchored by Bret Baier and Megyn Kelly and inclascii117ded appearances by primetime hosts Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and Greta Van Sascii117steren as well as analysis from contribascii117tor Sarah Palin.

In the 10PM hoascii117r, Fox News even beat the three broadcast networks, according to the preliminary ratings data (final ratings for the broadcast networks is not available ascii117ntil Thascii117rsday). The network averaged 6.9 million total viewers to NBC s 6.1 million ABC's 5.9 million and CBS 6.0 million.

Election Night 2010 Primetime Ratings
Fox News: 6.975 million total viewers, 2.439 million A25-54 demo
CNN: 2.424 million total viewers, 1.030 million A25-54 demo
MSNBC: 1.957 million total viewers, 669,000 A25-54 demo

Note: The nascii117mbers in this post, which were initially based on Nielsen fast national data, were ascii117pdated with the final (and almost identical) ratings nascii117mbers from Nielsen Media Research.