By David Bauder, Media Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Cable news viewership jumped during Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with Fox News Channel leading the way and CNN showing the most dramatic increases.
CNN, Fox and MSNBC collectively averaged 6.4 million viewers in primetime between the start of the war last Wednesday and Sunday night. That's up from their January average of 4 million, the Nielsen company said.
For the full day between Wednesday and Sunday, Fox averaged 2.32 million viewers, up 64% from the quieter news month of January. CNN's audience soared from 633,000 in January to 1.75 million last week, up 178%. MSNBC had 980,000 for its war coverage, up 51% over January.
Those numbers match a trend: CNN tends to have the most dramatic increases during big news events while its rivals, more focused on political talk, are steadier in the quiet periods.
In entertainment, the venerable series "Law & Order" returned last week, with 5.8 million people watching the debut of its revival last Thursday. That along with the "Chicago Fire" and its spinoffs gave the prolific producer Dick Wolf four series in Nielsen's top 12.
CBS won the week in primetime, averaging 4.5 million viewers. ABC had 3.5 million, NBC had 3.4 million, Fox had 2 million, Univision had 1.7 million, Ion Television had 1.1 million and Telemundo had 1 million.
Fox News Channel led the cable networks with an average of 3.17 million viewers in primetime. CNN had 1.5 million, MSNBC had 1.39 million, ESPN had 1.15 million and HGTV had 1.1 million.
ABC's "World News Tonight" won the evening news ratings race with an average of 9 million viewers last week. NBC's "Nightly News" had 7.6 million and the "CBS Evening News" had 5.3 million.
For the week of Feb. 21-27, the top 20 shows in primetime, their networks and viewerships:
1. "60 Minutes," CBS, 8.36 million.
2. "FBI," CBS, 7.33 million.
3. "The Equalizer," CBS, 7.18 million.
4. "Chicago Med," NBC, 7.13 million.
5. "Young Sheldon," CBS, 6.95 million.
6. "Chicago Fire," NBC, 6.83 million.
7. "American Idol," ABC, 6.3 million.
8. "Blue Bloods," CBS, 6.25 million.
9. "FBI: International," CBS, 6.13 million.
10. "Chicago PD," NBC, 6.01 million.
11. "Ghosts," CBS, 5.85 million.
12. "Law & Order," NBC, 5.8 million.
13. "Jeopardy! College Championship," ABC, 5.72 million.
14. "FBI: Most Wanted," CBS, 5.7 million.
15. "NBC New Special Report: Russia/Ukraine Crisis," NBC, 5.34 million.
16. "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 5.23 million.
17. "Magnum P.I.," CBS, 5.21 million.
18. "Law & Order: SVU," NBC, 5.15 million.
19. "America's Funniest Home Videos," ABC, 5.14 million.
20. "911: Lone Star," Fox, 5.13 million.
Avid completes acquisition of Wolftech
Avid®, known for software solutions for professional media production, has completed the acquisition of Wolftech Broadcast Solutions, a leader in cloud-based multiplatform news planning, production and publishing solutions.
The acquisition enables Avid to combine its digital-first, end-to-end media solution with Wolftech’s expertise in story-centric workflow management. News organizations will be able to increase efficiency and accelerate story delivery through enhanced remote collaboration and multiplatform amplification.
Avid CEO Wellford Dillard stated, “Wolftech is unquestionably on the leading edge of where the industry is going, and this acquisition demonstrates Avid’s commitment to transform news, sports, and live production workflows. We are delighted to welcome Wolftech into the Avid family.”
Wolftech CEO Arne Berven added, “We were focused on finding a partner that could accelerate the adoption of our platform globally. We explored a number of possibilities, but when we talked to Avid, we knew it was the right match.”
The closing of the acquisition follows Avid’s announcement on October 7 that the company had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Wolftech.
With this acquisition, Avid deepens the integration between the two toolsets while continuing to embrace an open approach in partnering with a wide range of media production tools and newsroom systems. Existing Wolftech customers will benefit from Avid’s global scale for customer support and professional services.
Ian Axton, head of production operations for ITV News, said, “As a customer of both Avid and Wolftech we’re excited about the benefits this acquisition will bring to our users and our business. Wolftech has transformed... Read More