The House Democrats and the media built up the Mueller hearings for weeks as the long awaited moment in the Trump investigations. It appears that the moment came far too late for most Americans. Less than 13 million viewers tuned in for the hearings, which was widely described as a disaster for the Democrats and, frankly, Mueller. In another example of the growth of cable over broadcast, Fox News secured the largest audience for the day — an ironic conclusion given the false report that Fox would not cover the hearing live. Yet, the numbers were down overall from the hearing of former FBI Director James Comey. The hearing undermined the Democratic position with a remarkably ill-conceived plan of having members just read portions of the report to Mueller who came across as befuddled and confused.
Here are the results:
Fox: 3.03 million
MSNBC: 2,408,000
ABC: 2,124,000
NBC: 1,989,000
CBS: 1,905,000
CNN: 1,515,000.
In the most sought after demographic group, NBC drew 536,000 people in the advertiser demo. ABC News came in second among people between 25 and 54, notching an average of 489,000, followed by Fox News with 441,000; CBS with 406,000; CNN with 365,000; and MSNBC with 347,000.
Since Attorney General Bill Barr garnered 11 million for his hearing, this was well below what the Democrats and the media had hoped for. This is a case where the coverage numbers carry a strong political meaning. Democrats worked hard to drive up the viewership and spend weeks prepping and planning with members. What they produced was an anemic and conflicted hearing.