CNN scored massive ratings wins in the coveted 25 – 54 age demographic across Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, thanks to its intense, live coverage of the nationwide protests over George Floyd’s alleged murder by a Minneapolis police officer.

As the country’s news cycle became singularly focused on the rolling protests — and the numerous instances of violent police response — regular cable news programming became overwhelmed by breaking news coverage. And while every network saw increased viewership overall and in the demo by switching to a heavy emphasis on live, breaking news coverage, no channel benefited more than CNN, which saw huge ratings dividends.

On Friday, as protests roiled outside the White House and elsewhere across the country, CNN blew out the daytime and primetime ratings race in the demo, scoring 590,000 in daytime and a whopping 1.27 million in primetime, according to Nielsen Media Research. That swamped Fox News’ numbers of 355,000 and 777,000, respectively. Fox News, however, still claimed victories in overall daytime and primetime viewers, pulling in 2.08 million and 4.12 million. CNN grabbed runner-up status with 1.95 million and 3.53 million, respectively.

Saturday’s ratings were more of the same, with CNN topping the competition in both dayparts in the demo, Fox News winning across the board in total viewers, and both networks drawing ratings that were almost unheard of for a weekend. CNN garnered a massive 643,000 daytime A25 – 54 viewers and 1.25 million in Saturday primetime. Fox’s overall audience rose to 2.63 million in daytime and 3.83 million in primetime.

Sunday too, tracked the nationwide chaos and attracted incredible news viewership. CNN soared to the top of the primetime demo heap with 1.27 million viewers across the three hours, thanks to massive numbers for its two-hour Sunday night special I Can’t Breathe, hosted by Don Lemon, which averaged just under 1.20 million from 8:00 to 10:00 pm. And following Lemon at 10:00 p.m., the network’s live coverage of the protests, hosted by Chris Cuomo, scored huge time-slot victories in both overall and A25 – 54 viewers, with a staggering 1.51 million in the demo and 3.71 million overall. Fox News again won total viewers in daytime, with 2.18 million (CNN had 1.75 million), but the channel barely edged out CNN in overall primetime viewers on Sunday night, 3.28 million to 3.26 million, respectively.