Fox News Leads Florida Primary Ratings

Viewership down across the board over Gingrich's South Carolina win

By Andrea Morabito -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/1/2012 3:56:09 PM

Fox News again pulled into the most viewers for its coverage of Florida Republican primary night, averaging 2.5 million total viewers from 8-11 p.m. ET on Tuesday, according to Nielsen fast nationals.

CNN was second with 1.09 million total viewers and MSNBC third with 984,000. In the key adults 25-54 demo, FNC drew 641,000 viewers, CNN had 402,000 and MSNBC saw 245,000.

All of the networks called the race for Mitt Romney right as the last polls closed in Florida at 8 p.m. ET.

Versus the prior four non-event Tuesday averages, CNN's primetime gained the most, up 92% among total viewers, Fox News increased 13% and MSNBC grew 6%.

Compared to Newt Gingrich's surprise win in the South Carolina primary on Jan. 21, viewership was down on all three networks for the Florida race that Romney was heavily favored to win.