NEW YORK, May 29 (UPI) -- Fox News hit its lowest viewer ratings during its primetime lineup since August 2001 in the 25 to 54-year-old demographic.
The network drew 264,000 25 to 54-year-old viewers during its evening lineup, including the shows hosted by Greta Van Susteren, Bill O'Reilly, Megyn Kelly and Sean Hannity. Though this is a 12-year-low, the network still outpaced its competitors.
MSNBC had 145,000 viewers, while CNN had only 131,000. CNN saw a 42 percent lift in viewership in March thanks to its obsessive coverage of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight 370, but still didn't beat Fox News.
Fox News has had trouble with viewers in this demographic before. It lost 30 percent of its viewers ages 25-54 from 2012 to 2013, but saw a jump in the first quarter of 2014.
Fox News has traditionally attracted an older and more conservative group of viewers. Ratings show liberal and young people tend to watch other networks-- if they watch cable news at all. The reason behind this dip is that cable news viewership is in a decline and it's the younger generations leading the trend.
