Fox News Celebrates Birthday With Delicious Ratings, Cake

Fox News turned 13 today (October 7th), and celebrated by finishing 3rd on basic cable in total day for the week of 9/28-10/4 2009. That is the first time in 2009 the network finished 3rd in total day, the last time being election week 2008.

Fox is typically ranked somewhere between 4th and 6th in total day. In primetime ESPN (with its live sports, including Monday Night Football) and USA typically take home the top spots. For total day, Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite are usually at the top of the list.

The network also celebrated its Bar Mitzvah by grabbing the top 13 programs on cable news for that week. The O’Reilly Factor and Glenn Beck were at the top of the chart, while Larry King Live finished 14th and Countdown with Keith Olbermann came in at No. 15 as the top non-Fox shows.

The numbers speak to the growth of the channel’s daytime news coverage, which has been building an audience as its primetime opinion programs have surged in the ratings.

While most people associate Fox with Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck, its daytime news coverage, which

includes programs anchored by Shepard Smith (pictured) and Your World with Neil Cavuto, has been on the receiving end of the ratings bump as well.

As for the cake, a source at News Corp. headquarters says it was delicious.