Pew Study: Viewership, Revenue Increased During 2020 For TV News

Average audience for the three major cable news channels, as well as for the network and local TV news sectors, increased in 2020, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of the state of the U.S. news media. Financially, the cable and local TV news sectors saw an increase in revenue, while advertiser expenditures for the news programs of the three major networks remained steady.

Since 2004, Pew Research Center has published analyses of key audience and economic indicators for a variety of sectors within the U.S. news media industry, presented as a series of fact sheets showcasing the most important data points for each sector in an easy-to-digest format. The second set for 2021, released today, includes fact sheets on the cable, network and local TV news sectors.

➤Among the key findings for cable TV:

• Prime time viewership increased for the three major cable news channels (CNN, Fox News and MSNBC) in 2020, according to Comscore TV Essentials® data. The average audience (defined as the average number of TVs tuned to a program throughout a time period) for the prime news time slot (8 p.m. to 11 p.m.) increased by 61% for Fox News in 2020, to about 3.08 million compared with 1.92 million in 2019. Similarly, CNN’s audience increased from 1.05 million in 2019 to 1.80 million in 2020, a 72% increase. MSNBC’s audience jumped 28% to 1.6 million in 2020, rising from 1.3 million in 2019. All three major cable news channels also saw marked audience increases in the daytime news slot (6 a.m. to 6 p.m.) in 2020.
• Newsmax had an average prime time audience of 115,000 in 2020, the first year the Center has industry data available for this outlet. Read additional Center research on the relatively smaller cable news channel that rose to prominence during the 2020 election.
• Total revenue for the three major cable channels increased modestly in 2020 (to 1.7 billion for CNN, 2.9 billion for Fox News and 1.1 billion for MSNBC). Each channel saw a 3%-5% increase in revenue, according to estimates from Kagan, a media research group in S&P Global Market Intelligence.
• License (affiliate) fees were down slightly in 2020 for all three cable news channels. One of two main sources of revenue for the major cable channels, these fees were down roughly 1%-3% across all the major cable channels.
• Advertising revenue increased in 2020 for all three of the major cable channels. The other main source of revenue for the major cable news channels, advertising revenue, rose by between 9% and 12% across the three channels.
• Newsmax made $26 million in revenue in 2020. Virtually all of this revenue came from advertising, as Newsmax reported zero revenue from license fees.
• Fox News, MSNBC and CNN all saw their profits increase in 2020, each growing roughly 6%-7% from the previous year. Newsmax lost $1.5 million in 2020, the first year the Center has data for this outlet.
• About 2,700 employees worked as reporters, editors, photographers, camera operators and editors in cable TV newsrooms in 2020, about on par with 2017, when there were about 2,900 news employees, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. The median wage for editors was about $66,000 per year in 2020, followed by camera operators and editors at about $63,000, and photographers at about $43,000. (Since 2018, wage data for reporters in the cable industry has not been available.) For overall employment trends across the news industry, read the related analysis also released today.

➤Among the key findings for network TV:

• The average audience for the evening newscasts of ABC, CBS and NBC grew across all three networks, according to Comscore TV Essentials® data. ABC evening news viewership grew 16% to 7.6 million viewers in 2020, following an 11% increase in 2019. CBS evening news viewership grew 7% to about 5 million viewers in 2020, while NBC viewership rose 8% to 6.5 million.
• Average audience for morning news programs from ABC, CBS and NBC remained mostly steady in 2020, with CBS seeing a slight (5%) decline in morning news viewership. Read the fact sheet for audience data on Sunday morning political talk shows and the networks’ newsmagazine shows.
• Advertiser expenditures for the evening broadcast news programs, ABC’s World News Tonight, CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News each rose in 2020, according to estimates from Kantar. ABC saw a 22% increase in 2020, while CBS and NBC each saw an 8% increase. (This data reflects the amount of money paid by advertisers, rather than the amount of revenue actually earned by networks.)
• The three networks’ advertiser expenditures for the morning news programs each remained steady in 2020, though CBS and NBC saw increases in 2019 (12% and 7%, respectively).

➤Among the key findings for local TV:

• Viewership for network local affiliate news stations (ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC) increased in two key time slots – evening (4 p.m. to 7 p.m.) and late night (11 p.m. to 2 a.m.) in 2020, according to Comscore StationView Essentials® data. Local TV average audience for the late night and evening news time slots both increased by 4% while the average audience for the morning news time slot (6 a.m. to 9 a.m.) decreased 4% in 2020. Audience for the midday news time slot (11 a.m. to 2 p.m.) increased 10% in 2020, while the average audience for the prime news time slot (8 p.m. to 11 p.m.) decreased by 5%.
• Local TV over-the-air advertising revenue totaled $18.4 billion in 2020, an election year, an 8% increase over 2019, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of MEDIA Access Pro & BIA Advisory Services data. (Local TV station revenue typically follows a cyclical pattern, increasing in election years and decreasing in non-election years.)
• Total digital advertising revenue for local TV stations increased 6% in 2020, reaching a total of about $1.4 billion. (Digital advertising revenue accounts for less than 10% of total ad revenue.)
• Five major publicly held local TV station companies – Gray, Nexstar, Scripps, Sinclair and Tegna – reported a total of $2 billion in political advertising revenue in 2020, compared with $1.2 billion in 2018 and $843 million in 2016, the two most recent election years. (These companies report political advertising revenue separately from other types of revenues in their Securities and Exchange Commission filings.)
• Roughly 30,000 employees worked as reporters, editors, photographers or television, film, and video editors or operators in broadcast TV newsrooms in 2020, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. (Broadcast TV newsroom employment and wage data includes both national networks and local TV broadcasters.) Median wages for editors in 2020 were about $60,000, while for reporters the figure was about $56,000. For television, film, and video editors and camera operators, the median wage was about $55,000. Photographers had a median wage of about $50,000.