MSNBC's Rachel Maddow continued her summer surge, finishing the month of August as the host of the most-watched program in cable news. Maddow also topped cable news ratings in July.

Maddow ended the month averaging a total of 2.783 million viewers at 9 p.m. ET, edging out Fox's Sean Hannity, who delivered 2.679 million viewers per night at 10 p.m., according to Nielsen Media Research.

Fox's Tucker Carlson took third place overall with 2.483 million viewers, followed by MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell with 2.531 million and Fox's "The Five" with 2.351 million.

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Overall in total viewers, Fox has 13 programs in the top 20, followed by MSNBC with six shows and CNN with one, "Anderson Cooper 360."

In the key 25- to 54-year-old demographic that advertisers covet most, CNN fared better, with Cooper and Don Lemon's "CNN Tonight" taking home sixth and seventh place, respectively.

The top five in the 25- to 54-year-old demographic mirrored the total viewer rankings, with Maddow finishing first and Hannity, Carlson, "The Five" and O'Donnell rounding out the top five.

In overall basic cable ratings, Fox News finished the month as the most-watched channel for the 14th consecutive month, averaging 2.2 million viewers in prime time.

MSNBC finished second with 1.83 million viewers, followed by HGTV, USA Network and TBS.