After a historic presidential debate boosted CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC to huge ratings, all three cable news giants fell back to Earth during the week of Sept. 16. Absent an increasingly unlikely rematch between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, the trio experienced week-to-week declines in the double digits among total viewers and the advertiser-friendly Adults 25-54 audience.
According to TV Newser citing Nielsen live plus same-day data, Fox News handily won both measured categories across all dayparts. In primetime, the network attracted 2.513 million total viewers and 310,000 pairs of A25-54 eyeballs. FNC was down a respective -20% and -34% compared to the previous week. Total day numbers were 1.486 million in the former category and 203,000 in the latter for declines of -6% and -11%, respectively.
MSNBC experienced a steeper exodus in primetime, with 1.481 million total viewers and 154,000 A25-54 viewers for declines of -29% and -46%, respectively. It fell under the million-viewer mark in total day total viewers with an audience of 952,000, and under the 100,000-viewer mark in the demo with 99,000. That translates to declines of -18% and -27% compared to the previous week.
Basic cable chart-wise, MSNBC dropped one spot from No. 2 to No. 3 among primetime total viewers and fell from fourth to seventh in the primetime demo. Total day standings saw the network holding on to second place in total viewers and moving down from third to fourth in the demo.
CNN took the biggest week-to-week hit of the three outlets, settling for a primetime audience of 681,000 total viewers and 138,000 A25-54 viewers. That translates to plunges of -43% and -54%, respectively. The news wasn’t much better in total day, where only 517,000 total viewers and 94,000 demo viewers tuned in for drops of -21% and -30% compared to Debate Week. CNN also saw its total day demo gap with MSNBC expand to 5,000 viewers after narrowing to 1,000 for a two-week stretch.
Programming:
Fox News claimed 10 spots on the week’s list of the Top 15 most-watched cable news programs among total viewers. The Five (3,396,000 viewers at 5 p.m.) finished first, while MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show (2,359,000 viewers at 9 p.m.) swooped in at No. 7.
- FOX News Channel’s Gutfeld! notched its best week with viewers since launching in 2021, powered by the show’s interview with former President Donald Trump. Wednesday’s show saw nearly 5 million viewers and 744,000 in the 25-54 demo, marking the highest-rated night in the show’s history. It was the number one show in all of cable and broadcast primetime on Wednesday, defeating the highly anticipated debuts of CBS’s Survivor (4.7 million P2+) and ABC’s The Golden Bachelorette (2.8 million P2+). For the week, Gutfeld! averaged 3,229,000 viewers and 461,000 in the 25-54 demo, topping CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (1,946,000 P2+; 300,000 A25-54), ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! (1,590,000 P2+; 275,000 A25-54) and NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon (1,098,000 P2+; 273,000 A25-54).
- For the week, The Five averaged 3.4 million viewers and 371,000 in the 25-54 demo, making it the most-watched show of the week with viewers. At 6 PM/ET, Special Report with Bret Baier drew 2.4 million viewers and 264,000 in the 25-54 demo. The Ingraham Angle saw 2.5 million viewers and 297,000 in the 25-54 demo at 7 PM/ET. At 8 PM/ET, Jesse Watters Primetime delivered 3.1 million viewers and 370,000 in the 25-54 demo. At 9 PM/ET, Hannity posted 2.7 million viewers and 337,000 with A25-54. At 11 PM/ET, FOX News @ Night secured 1.7 million viewers and 270,000 in the 25-54 demo.
- FNC also saw a number of its daytime programs outrank the broadcast competition. Most notably, Outnumbered (weekdays, 12 PM/ET; 1,930,000 P2+), Harris Faulkner’s The Faulkner Focus (weekdays, 11 AM/ET; 1,845,000 P2+), America’s Newsroom with Dana Perino and Bill Hemmer (weekdays, 9-11 AM/ET; 1,742,000 P2+), America Reports with Sandra Smith and John Roberts (weekdays, 1-3 PM/ET; 1,714,000) and The Story with Martha MacCallum (weekdays, 3 PM/ET; 1,671,000 P2+) all outpaced ABC’s GMA3 (1,300,000 P2+) and NBC’s Today with Hoda and Jenna (1,236,000 P2+).
- “World News Tonight” widened its margins over “NBC Nightly News” versus the previous week in all key target demos: Total Viewer (+74% – 1.572 million vs. 905,000), Adults 25-54 (+43% – 123,000 vs. 86,000) and Adults 18-49 (+89% – 70,000 vs. 37,000).
- “World News Tonight” stood as the No. 2 program of the week in Total Viewers (7.184 million) on all of broadcast and cable (excluding sports).
- “World News Tonight” was up week to week in Total Viewers (+4%/+251,000 – 7.184 million vs. 6.933 million).
- For the week, “World News Tonight” (7.184 million, 949,000 and 630,000, respectively) defeated “CBS Evening News” (4.470 million, 684,000 and 454,000, respectively) by 2.714 million Total Viewers, by 265,000 Adults 25-54 and by 176,000 Adults 18-49. “World News Tonight” increased its Total Viewer gap week to week from the CBS program by 7% (2.714 million vs. 2.540 million).
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