TV Ratings: ‘Kelly File’ Replaces ‘The Five’ as Fox’s – And Cable News’ – New Number 2

Cable news rankings are unchanged for October -- with Fox News Channel clocking its 142nd monthly win in a row and MSNBC and CNN still #2 and #3, respectively -- but programming rankings did see a significant change.

The first month of Megyn Kelly's The Kelly File topped all but The O'Reilly Factor across cable news for the month, replacing The Five as FNC's second highest-rated broadcast.

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The series averaged a formidable 2.233 million viewers and 383,000 adults 25-54. It usurped The Five in the demo despite the average 369,000 demo viewers being a monthly high for 2013. (The Five, which had posted an advantage over previous #2 Hannity for much of the year, was O'Reilly's runner-up in September and the third quarter.)

Fox's full primetime block (7 to 11 p.m.) saw other shifts, with On the Record With Greta Van Susteren moving to 7 p.m. and Hannity migrating to 10 p.m., boosting its overall growth of 22 percent in total viewers (2.153 million) and 20 percent in adults 25-54 (373,000) compared to the third quarter.

The biggest grower of the month, however, was MSNBC. The network saw its primetime ratings jump 59 percent from the third quarter to an average 976,000 viewers. The net was also up the most in the demo, 38 percent, to an average 237,000 adults 25-54.

CNN, also improved, saw the smallest growth. The third place net was up 7 percent in total viewers to 569,000 and just 1 percent in the demo to 171,000 adults 25-54.

HLN was the only network to see declines, dropping 29 percent in total viewers to 245,000 and 41 percent among adults 25-54 to just 77,000.

Michael O'Connell