TV Ratings: CableTV News Race Tightens

Several programs on MSNBC and CNN had their most-watched months ever in January, the Associated Press reports citing Nielsen company data. CNN as a network did so, too, in a newsy month where the Capitol insurrection and President Joe Biden’s inauguration left a lot to talk about.

For the weekday prime-time schedule — the heart of the networks — MSNBC averaged 3.31 million viewers, CNN had 3.12 million and Fox News Channel had 2.89 million. Fox has been the top-rated cable news network for 19 years, and this represented the first month it finished third to its rivals since 1999, Nielsen said.

Over the full day, CNN averaged 1.91 million viewers for the month (up 151% from January 2020). MSNBC had 1.66 million (up 65%) and Fox News Channel was 1.37 million (down 20%).

Fox News returned to the top in prime-time ratings last week, the first full week of the Biden administration, Nielsen said. The major trends are continuing, however: CNN is markedly up over last year, MSNBC is up by a smaller margin and Fox is declining.

Fox News Channel led among the cable networks, averaging 2.56 million viewers. MSNBC had 2.23 million, CNN had 1.79 million, HGTV had 1.33 million and History had 1.03 million.

For the week, CBS was the most-watched broadcast network, averaging 4.7 million viewers in prime time. ABC had 3.6 million, NBC had 3 million, Fox had 2.6 million, Univision had 1.4 million, Telemundo had 1.12 million and Ion Television had 1.11 million.

👉Top 20 Primetime Shows (Total Viewers)

1. “NCIS,” CBS, 10.03 million.

2. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 9.36 million.

3. “FBI,” CBS, 8.28 million.

4. “911,” Fox, 7.22 million.

5. “Chicago Med,” NBC, 7.2 million.

6. “Chicago Fire,” NBC, 6.96 million.

7. “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune, ABC, 6.61 million.

8. “The Neighborhood,” CBS, 6.42 million.

9. “FBI: Most Wanted,” CBS, 6.23 million.

10. “Chicago PD,” NBC, 5.971 million.

11. “Bob Hearts Abishola,” CBS, 5.967 million.

12. “911: Lone Star,” Fox, 5.91 million.

13. “Bull,” CBS, 5.39 million.

14. “The Bachelor,” ABC, 5.27 million.

15. “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” ABC, 5.07 million.

16. “The Price is Right,” CBS, 4.89 million.

17. “The Chase,” ABC, 4.86 million.

18. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 4.67 million.

19. “To Tell the Truth,” ABC, 4.484 million.

20. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 4.437 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” led the evening news ratings race with an average of 9.9 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 8.3 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 6.2 million.

Meanwhile, TV Newser reports Good Morning America and Today split the morning ratings competition for the week of Jan. 25, 2021.

ABC’s morning show averaged 3.6 million total viewers and 945,000 adults 25-54 this past week, according to the most up to date data from Nielsen. The 3.6 million total viewer average is +274,000 more than the Today show, and is up +2% compared to the prior week. 

Good Morning America—the most-watched morning show for 9 years and counting—is increasing its advantage over Today in total viewers to its largest in 5 years – since the 2015-16 season.

GMA may have won the week in total viewers (as it usually does), but Today marked 75 consecutive weeks as the top morning show among adults 25-54. A remarkable streak. In addition to averaging 3.3 million total viewers, the NBC morning show averaged 1 million adults 25-54 for the week, which is up +5% from the prior week.

CBS This Morning delivered another week of growth, up an impressive +15% from the prior week among adults 25-54 (700,000 vs. 610,000 A25-54 viewers). The program averaged 2.9 million total viewers, which is up +3% compared to the prior week. Solid performance overall. In fact, this was CTM’s most-watched week since the 2020 election.