Viewers head to Weather Channel for Hurricane Ian coverage

By DAVID BAUDER
AP Media Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The Weather Channel had its biggest audience in five years on Wednesday, when Hurricane Ian made its devastating landfall in western Florida. With an average of 3.4 million viewers, it was the channel’s biggest audience since Hurricane Harvey deluged Texas in 2017. In the ensuing five years, more media options have popped up for people to follow the storm. The one-year-old Fox Weather service had its busiest day ever. The Weather Channel’s parent company also made available a free streaming service that allowed viewers to watch local Florida stations in markets like Tampa and Fort Myers as they followed the storm, again with record usage.