Cable News Ad Reach Surges During Busy July

During an incredibly busy July for news, the three big cable news networks gradually gained steam delivering larger shares of TV ad impressions – especially when it came to Fox News. Data from iSpot shows the network was No. 1 or 2 by ad impressions SOV every day from July 11 through July 20, and in the top spot every day from July 14-19 (Donald Trump assassination attempt through two days after the RNC).

• Fox’s top days by impressions SOV were the day of Trump’s RNC speech and the day right after. In general, big news events (assassination attempts, Trump RNC speech, Biden not seeking reelection) were followed by major upticks in ad impressions the next day.
• Interestingly, CNN rose significantly from July 19-21, peaking at 3.35% of ad impressions on July 21 – the day Joe Biden announced he wouldn’t seek reelection. That day was the network’s highest share of impressions all month.
• There have only been two days in July (so far) that had Fox News, CNN and MSNBC all among the top 10 networks by ad impressions SOV. On July 19, the day after Trump's RNC speech. That day, Fox News was No. 1, CNN was No. 5 and MSNBC was No. 6. And the day after Biden dropping out, when Fox was No. 1, CNN was No. 6 and MSNBC was No. 10 by ad impressions.