NBC News is #1 across the board on TV, dominating all broadcast and cable networks during last night’s midterm election coverage from 8-11 p.m. ET, according to Nielsen preliminary fast national data. Additionally, NBC News’ “Kornacki Cam” ranked as the #1 election livestream on YouTube last night, with a record 29 million views across all platforms.
Anchored by Savannah Guthrie, Tom Llamas, Kristen Welker and Hallie Jackson, NBC News’ special coverage averaged more than 6.5 million total viewers, ranking #1 in total viewers for midterm election coverage for the first time in 24 years. NBC News led ABC by double-digit margins across all key demos and by more than 1.6 million total viewers (+33%).
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NBC News averaged 2.5 million A25-54 viewers, exceeding the combined A25-54 audiences of ABC and CBS. This marked the first time NBC News ranked #1 in the key demo for midterm election coverage in 16 years.
The network also outpaced the competition in A18-49, averaging 2.3 million viewers in the demo. NBC News tripled MSNBC’s audience in the demo and nearly doubled CNN’s.
FOX News Media’s (FNM) midterm election primetime coverage (8-11 PM/ET) led cable news and bested CBS News, according to early data from Nielsen Media Research. Co-anchored by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, FNC’s special election coverage FOX News Democracy 26, which was simulcast on FOX Business Network, averaged 4.4 million viewers and 877,000 in the 25-54 demographic, beating MSNOW with A25-54.
FNC delivered over 4 million viewers during primetime (8-11 PM/ET), with its coverage peaking in the 9 PM/ET hour averaging over 4.3 million viewers. During total day, FNC also outpaced CNN, averaging 1,825,000 viewers and 299,000 in the younger 25-54 demographic leading CNN (1,554,000 viewers).
FOX News Digital drove double-digit increases across the board with page views, media initiates, unique devices and total minutes spent compared to 2026 throughout Election Day. According to Emplifi and Comscore Social, FOX News saw 3.3 million social media interactions across Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok, while according to Emplifi, FOX News secured 15.4 million YouTube video views.