One of Fox News Channel's hosts is celebrating a rather momentous feat with the end of this February sweep. Special Report anchor Bret Baier just hit 50 consecutive months topping his time slot among cable news.
Baier, who also reached his four-year anniversary at the desk, joins NBC News' Brian Williams as a the only recent news anchor to hold this distinction. (Commentary-driven broadcasts, like The O'Reilly Factor, fall under a different umbrella.)
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Year over year, Nielsen data for February have the 6 p.m. ET broadcast of Special Report (1.97 million viewers, 321,000 adults 25-54) up seven percent in total audience. And though FNC maintains a significant lead over both MSNBC and CNN combined -- Politics Nation With Al Sharpton (718,000 viewers, 187,000 adults 25-54) and CNN’s Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer (522,000 viewers, 158,000 adults 25-54) -- CNN has grown.
Compared its February 2012 ratings with John King at the desk, CNN's 6 p.m. hour is up 15 percent with viewers.
Special Report with Bret Baier, outpacing even FNC's Hannity, ranked number three among total viewers across all of cable news in February. It held the number five slot in the key demo.