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MSNBC and CNN have shed hundreds of thousands of viewers while Fox News viewership has skyrocketed after Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election.
From the day after the election to date, MSNBC has averaged a total day viewership of 521,000 — down 38% from its 2024 average through election day — while CNN averaged 367,000 total viewers — a 27% decline from before the election, according to Nielsen figures. Meanwhile Fox News saw a
41% boost in total day viewership, now averaging 2.001 million viewers.
Primetime viewership similarly cratered for MSNBC and CNN, with MSNBC seeing a 48% decline following the election with an average viewership of
691,000, while CNN slid 35% to average 470,000 viewers. Fox News’ primetime audience meanwhile grew 34% with an average viewership of 3.157 million.
MSNBC’s ratings in key cable demo among adults 25-54 also slid
53% in primetime and 41% in total day, while CNN’s demo audience dropped 35% in primetime and 26% in total day. Likewise, Fox News saw a 46% jump in demo viewership in primetime while the network’s total day demo viewership soared
49%.
To date, Fox News now holds 73% of the cable news audience in primetime viewers, with MSNBC taking 16% of the share while CNN trails behind with 11%. In the key demo, Fox News has 71% of primetime cable news audiences while CNN has 17% and MSNBC has 11%
Ratings for MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” continued to drop after hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski revealed that they had met with Donald Trump, with Wednesday’s episode ranking as its lowest-rated program since 2021, with just 51,000 viewers in the key cable demo among adults 25-54. On Wednesday, “Morning Joe” averaged 647,000 total viewers — down 43% from the show’s average Q3 viewership — and 51,000 viewers in the demo — down 60% from the Q3 average.
Since the hosts revealed their meeting with Trump on Monday, the show’s average viewership has dropped day-by-day. While Monday’s episode — which saw hour-by-hour drop off — averaged 770,000 total viewers, Tuesday’s episode dropped to 680,000 viewers and Wednesday’s episode saw a total viewership of 647,000.
