CNN would like you believe that their coverage of the missing Malaysian flight had propelled them to the top of the cable news ratings.

There is no doubt that the CNN's total smotherage of the missing plane gave them a ratings bump, but it is nowhere near what they would like you to think it is.

Fox News was still on top of the ratings during CNN's all in missing plane coverage.

From March 8th to the 24th, the time the flight went missing, Fox News beat CNN in prime time by 135% in total viewers.

Although the demos were closer, FNC also was past CNN in their coverage. See the chart below:

As FTVLive told you, many even some inside CNN questioned their wall to wall ignore all other news coverage of Flight 370.

Some expect as the news cycle returns to normal, that this overblown coverage could even end up hurting CNN in the long run. 

Time will tell.