CNN Tops Ratings in Whitney Houston Funeral Coverage

*CNN was the most watched network of all cable news competitors in the ratings for Whitney Houston’s funeral, averaging five million viewers during its coverage of the singer’s Baptist memorial on Saturday, according to Nielsen.

The event was televised without commercial breaks from 12:15 to 3:45 p.m., resulting in a spike of 5.4 million viewers between 1:30 to 1:45 p.m. On a normal Saturday, without a unifying televised event, CNN draws about 10 times less viewers, notes the Hollywood Reporter.

Meanwhile, the network’s softer-news sibling HLN averaged 1.42 million, followed by Fox News (1.38 million) and MSNBC (709,000). Ratings for E! and BET, which also carried the funeral, were not released at press time.