Last year, 2024 was supposed to be a huge viewership boost for the major cable news networks. It’s a presidential election in which proven ratings winner Donald Trump will be one of the key players.
While Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN did see ratings increases, the latter two networks were largely wiped out by politically-weary viewers who turned away following Trump’s victory and Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss. , a significant drop in viewership was seen after the election.
The question in 2025 is whether these regular viewers will return after a short break, as some executives predict, or whether their habits will shift to other sources such as ideologically friendly podcasts and digital streaming. is.
Additionally, the next year is likely to bring major changes to MSNBC and CNN, with the former preparing to separate from its Comcast mothership and the latter undergoing an overhaul to integrate CNN.com and digital video. is.
Fox News topped prime time in 2024, averaging 2.38 million viewers, a 30% increase from the previous year. MSNBC averaged 1.22 million viewers, up 1%, and CNN averaged 685,000 viewers, up 18%. In the news demo from the 25th to the 54th, Fox News increased 40% to an average of 294,000, followed by CNN, which increased 17% to 147,000, and MSNBC, which increased 9% to 133,000.
In daily totals, Fox News averaged 1.46 million viewers, up 21%, MSNBC up 2% to 791,000, and CNN flat at 481,000. In the 25-54 demo, Fox News averaged 186,000, up 26%, followed by CNN, 91,000, down 3%, and MSNBC, 84,000, down 2%.
Since the election, FOX News has won 72% of prime-time cable news viewers, MSNBC averaged 576,000 viewers, down 57% compared to the period from 2024 to Election Day, and CNN The average number of viewers was 378,000, a decrease of 49%.
The most-watched cable news show of the year was Fox News’ The Five, which averaged 3.4 million viewers, followed by Jesse Watters Primetime with 3.1 million, Hannity with 2.8 million, and Gutfeld! Ta. 2.54 million and Ingraham Angle’s 2.51 million. In the 25-54 demo, Gutfeld! Topping the list is 355,000 viewers, followed by Jesse Watters with 352,000, Hannity with 341,000, The Five with 331,000, and Ingraham Angle with 278,000.
MSNBC touted surpassing CNN in total viewers during major news events such as the State of the Union and election night. MSNBC said its viewership in 2024 will average 34% more than in 2016, giving it the network’s largest viewership advantage over CNN in history, despite a 28% decline in pay-TV households. . Regarding the post-election drop, MSNBC noted that viewership declined by 42% after the 2016 election, and the following four years were the most-watched years in the network’s history. The network’s highest-rated show in 2024 was The Rachel Maddow Show, which averaged 2.5 million viewers and 240,000 in the 2025-54 demo.
The first presidential debate between Joe Biden and Trump, hosted by CNN, became the fifth most-watched program of the year, drawing 52.7 million viewers, despite being simulcast on major networks. The network promotes strength in digital platforms, reaching 147 million monthly unique users worldwide and 117 million in the United States. CNN.com’s best-performing story of the year was an exclusive video of Sean “Diddy” Combs assaulting Cassie Ventura. The network’s most-watched regular series was Anderson Cooper 360, which averaged 748,000 viewers.
Numbers through Dec. 29 were provided by Nielsen via Fox News, MSNBC and CNN.
MSNBC and CNN can take some solace in the fact that Fox News also suffered a decline in viewership after President Trump’s defeat in 2020, but recovered with President Biden’s inauguration. But the comparison with 2023 is clear. MSNBC averaged 660,000 prime-time viewers last month, compared to about 1.3 million in December 2023, when the primary season was heating up. CNN averaged 392,000 viewers, compared to 505,000 viewers in the same month last year. Fox News averaged 2.51 million viewers, compared to 1.96 million in December 2023.
In the 25-54 demo, MSNBC averaged 55,000 viewers last month (114,000 in December 2023) and CNN averaged 69,000 (108,000). Fox News averaged 292,000 viewers, compared to 214,000 in the same period last year.
