Fox News won the cable news ratings race for the 69th consecutive quarter over MSNBC and CNN, according to Nielsen Media Research numbers released Tuesday.

Overall for prime time, Fox News averaged 2.45 million total viewers, topping MSNBC's 1.91 million. CNN was third with an average of 1.06 million viewers.

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In the key 25-54 demographic that advertisers covet most, Fox News averaged 421,000 viewers. MSNBC was second with 333,000 and CNN third with 308,000.

The top five individual shows on cable news for the quarter in total viewers were led by Fox News's Sean Hannity, which averaged 3.165 million viewers per night. Fox News's Tucker Carlson was second, with 3.087 million viewers, and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow was third, with 3.067 million viewers.

Fox's "The Five" took fourth with 2.641 million viewers and "The Ingraham Angle" rounded out the top five with 2.489 million viewers per night.



CNN's most-watched show was "Cuomo Prime Time," which airs at 9 p.m. The program was 23rd overall in total viewers, averaging 1.28 million viewers per night. In the 25-54 demographic the program fared better, finishing 8th in the cable news race with 367,000 viewers.

For the month of March, Fox News averaged 2.51 million viewers while MSNBC took in 1.84 million. CNN finished third with an average of 921,000.

In total viewers, Hannity was tops for the month with 3.12 million viewers. Maddow was second with 3.06 million and Carlson third with 2.98 million. "The Five" was fourth with 2.575 million and "The Ingraham Angle" fifth with 2.434 million in winning the 10 p.m. time slot.

In the 25-54 demographic for March, Carlson topped Hannity and Maddow for the first time, finishing with 537,000 viewers in the category to Hannity's 533,000 and Maddow's 509,000.