• by Wayne Friedman , April 28, 2020

After weeks of cable TV news networks and streaming TV platforms witnessing big gains due to more at-home viewing, some linear lifestyle/entertainment networks are posting significant hikes.

For the first half of the month of April, Food Network is up 22% year-over-year to average 223,000 total day 18-49 viewers, looking at Nielsen’s average minute commercial rating plus three days of time-shifted viewing (C3), according to analysis from MoffettNathanson Research.

TBS is 20% higher to 240,000 viewers, while Lifetime is 39% higher to 121,000; TLC has gained 24% to 140,000 and Comedy Central has added 17% to a total of 175,000 viewers.

Those networks generally witnessed mostly declines in March -- with a 3% increase for TLC, an 8% decline for Lifetime, a 1% gain for Comedy Central, a 22% drop for TBS and a 3% pullback for Food Network.

Cable TV news networks continue to generally lead all networks, with CNN and Fox News Channel posting particularly significant gains.

In the first half of April, CNN zoomed up 200% year-over-year in Nielsen C3 to 285,000 18-49 viewers -- leading all networks and inching past perennial leader Fox News Channel, which saw a 110% improvement to 279,000.

This followed both networks' big gains in March -- up 97% for CNN and 65% for Fox News. MSNBC also grew 41% in the first half of April (131,000 18-49 viewers) which followed  29% hike in March (138,000).

In the cable TV news category, business network CNBC grew 36% in March and 54% in the first half of April to 49,000 and 57,000 18-49 viewers, respectively.

Broadcast networks posted generally softer results: Fox was up 27% in the first half of April (854,000 18-49 viewers), and 3% higher for all of March (843,000). ABC added 10% (708,000) and 1% (683,000) for the first half of April and March, respectively.

NBC was up 4% for the first two weeks of April (601,000) and down 2% for March (608,000).

CBS was the major loser, largely due to the lack of sports -- March Madness and The Masters, during the March to April period. It was down 30% for the April period (573,000) and 34% lower for March (513,000).