MSNBC Dominates Cable News With Trump Indictment Coverage

Sure, it was just one evening's worth of primetime ratings, and Fox News still won the whole day, but Thursday night's cable news audience rankings could portend a shifting power structure in the eroding but still very relevant cable news horse race.

MSNBC anchors Chris Hayes, Alex Wagner and Lawrence O’Donnell each won their respective hours between 8 p.m. - 11 p.m. Thursday night, with audiences tuning in to find out the latest on the U.S. Justice Department's first-ever indictment of a former president for allegedly stealing some of the country's most sensitive classified documents.

The one-off victory in both total viewers and the key 25-54 demo by what has traditionally been cable news' third-ranked channel doesn't so much indicate that embattled Fox News is about to cede its crown. But it does strongly suggest that when real news breaks, serious news consumers are now finding an alternative to also-mired-in-chaos CNN.

Here are Thursday's night's primetime numbers, based on Nielsen figures published by Mediaite.