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MSNBC saw a 61% ratings boost after Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 47th president.
During the week of Jan. 20-24, which kicked off with Monday’s inauguration, MSNBC averaged 1.3 million primetime viewers, according to Nielsen, up 61% from the weekday average from the previous three weeks, which averaged a primetime viewership of 799,000.
With an average primetime viewership of 1.3 million and an average total day viewership of 591,000, the first week of Trump’s presidency boosted MSNBC to capture its biggest primetime and total day audience since the week of the presidential election in early November 2024.
As first week Trump’s second presidency saw “The Rachel Maddow Show” return to five days a week through the first 100 days of the new administration, Maddow averaged 1.7 million viewers during her first week back, more than double the 745,000 viewers averaged by CNN’s “The Source with Kaitlan Collins” during the same week.
Between the inauguration, confirmation hearings and Trump’s week 1 executive orders in January, MSNBC has averaged a weekday primetime viewership of 920,000 — up 39% from December’s average 660,000 viewers — and total day audience of 506,000 viewers — up 26% from December’s total day average audience of 402,000 viewers.
MSNBC was competitive with CNN during January’s biggest news moments, outpacing CNN’s coverage of the cabinet confirmation hearings as MSNBC averaged 620,000 total viewers while CNN drew 556,000 viewers comparatively. Additionally, MSNBC’s total viewership for primetime during the night of the inauguration soared over CNN for the first time in network history.
The network also touted its primetime lineup scored nearly twice as many independents and republicans as CNN’s, according to Nielsen/MRI fusion data.
The ratings growth marks a promising ratings rebound for the left-leaning cable news network, which saw its primetime cut in half after Trump’s victory in November as its total primetime audience fell 55% from November 4 through December 15 as CNN dropped by 46.7% while Fox News saw its primetime audience grow 10.7%. At the time, internal thinking at the network estimated viewers would return following the inauguration, as the holidays typically see lower viewership.
