In early, preliminary figures, the news channel trailed several other networks in prime-time viewership

On a midterm election night that was a huge disappointment for Republicans, with Democrats taking control of the US House and Senate, the country’s most prominent conservative television network felt the brunt of viewer disillusionment with Donald Trump and his party, according to preliminary audience numbers.

The Fox News Channel, which often leads in viewership on election night, appears to have come out far behind the competition. According to preliminary “Fast Nationals” ratings dating from the Nielsen firm, the network averaged 3.882 million total viewers between 8 and 11pm, far behind broadcast networks NBC (6.519 million viewers) and ABC (4.906 million viewers), and even trailing fellow cable networks CNN (3.927 million viewers) and MS Now (3.922 million viewers). Fox News did, however, defeat CBS News, which attracted just 2.629 million viewers.