TV Ratings: Fox Leads Cable During Slow News Week

The first week with non-seismic political news sees Fox News continuing to lead its cable rivals. With a reset to the presidential election in place, the cable nets could not sustain the momentum from the previous week, leading all three to record week-to-week declines.

Not to be discounted in these drops is the effect the 2024 Paris Olympics is having on cable news viewership in primetime and total day.

TV Newser reports Nielsen live plus same-day data for the week of July 29 saw FNC average 2.262 million total viewers and 273,000 A25-54 viewers during primetime. The network was down -21% and -31%, respectively relative to the week prior. In total day, Fox News averaged 1.439 million total viewers and 188,000 demo viewers for week-to-week declines of -16% and -21%, respectively.

Among all basic cable networks, FNC remained No. 1 in total primetime viewers, but slipped to second place in the demo. In total day, it continued to lead in total viewers and was No. 2 in the total day demo. The NBCUniversal-owned USA Network—buoyed by the Olympics—took the top spot in the demo in both primetime and total day.

MSNBC’s primetime lineup averaged 1,117,000 total viewers and 107,000 viewers in the A25-54 demo. That translates to week-to-week declines of -26% and -42%, respectively. Among all basic cable networks, MSNBC fell from No. 2 to No. 3 in total primetime viewers and from second to 10th place in the demo. During total day, it rose from sixth place to third place in total viewers and dropped from No. 5 to No. 7 in the demo.

CNN averaged 638,000 total viewers and 120,000 A25-54 viewers during primetime for week-to-week drops of -26% and -38%, respectively.  CNN remained fourth in primetime with total viewers and fell from third to seventh place in the demo. In total day, it dropped from second to fourth in total viewers and slipped from No. 2 to No. 5 in the demo.

Fox News occupied 12 of the 15 spots for most-watched cable news shows of the week, with The Five (3.289 million viewers at 5 p.m. ET) reclaiming its first place throne. MSNBC occupied the remaining spots, with the The ReidOut (1.574 million viewers at 7 p.m. ET) landing at No. 13.

Jesse Watters Primetime (360,000 viewers at 8 p.m. ET) continued to be the most-watched show among Adults 25-54. Fox News had 14 out of the 15 top shows in the demo overall, with the ReidOut (165,000 viewers at 7 p.m. ET) taking the final spot.

📺BROADCAST EVENING NEWS

The 2024 Paris Olympics provided the perfect lead-in for NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt. NBC News’ evening newscast catapulted to gold medal numbers as it claimed the top three programs on all of TV for the week of July 29, excluding sports, syndication and specials.

According to TV Newser, this feat was led by the Sunday edition of Nightly News, followed by the Saturday edition and then the weekday edition, all anchored by Holt. Additionally, Nightly News occupied the top five newscasts of the week in total viewers and went seven out of seven in the demo—once again excluding sports, syndication and specials.

ABC World News Tonight with David Muir averaged 7.487 million total viewers and 971,000 A25-54 viewers for the week of July 29. That translates to respective declines of -1% and -13%  compared to the previous week. While NBC took the top spot in both measured categories, WNT did maintain an audience size consistent with non-Olympics summers. Looking at its performance compared to the same week in 2023 (the week of July 31), WNT was up in total viewers by +2% and down -9% in the demo.

NBC Nightly News occupied the pole position in total viewers and the A25-54 demo, averaging 7.712 million and 1.456 million viewers, respectively. The newscast saw impressive week-to-week gains of +25% in total viewers and +54% in the demo. Year-to-year, Nightly News was up +30% in total viewers and +56% in the demo.

CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell finished in third place with 4.533 million total viewers and 608,000 A25-54 viewers. Compared to the previous week, it rose +3% in the former category, but dipped -1% in the latter. The evening newscast, which will undergo a makeover after the presidential election, saw its year-ago week numbers jump by +7% in total viewers and +3% in the demo

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📺TV SHOWS RATINGS RANKER

Ranking is based on ratings data as of Friday, August 2, 2024. The audience figures are derived from the latest Nielsen daily, weekly, or monthly P2+ program audience averages, whichever is the most recently available within the past seven-day window.