Recently, primetime average total viewership figures came out for the major cable news networks showing that CNN’s ratings tanked, falling below Newsmax. An executive at NBCUniversal Mike Sington, tweeted, “CNN prime time viewership drops below Newsmax. Friday, average total viewers, 8 to 11 pm: Fox News, 1.44 million MSNBC, 1.08 million Newsmax, 357,000 CNN, 335,000.”
CNN prime time viewership drops below Newsmax.
Friday, average total viewers, 8 to 11 pm:
Fox News, 1.44 million
MSNBC, 1.08 million
Newsmax, 357,000
CNN, 335,000— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) May 15, 2023
The Daily Caller further reported on the recent ratings:
CNN defeated Newsmax in the key 25-54 demographic with an average of 87,000 views, the outlet reported. Fox News dominated in the demo with 109,000 viewers and MSNBC averaged 98,000. Newsmax came in fourth averaging 45,000 viewers.
CNN’s viewership in the 25-54 demo went up in the last few Fridays, as Fox News’ and MSNBC’s went down, numbers show.
Newsmax’s 8 p.m. program, “Eric Bolling The Balance,” defeated CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” by 20,000 views. Bolling’s show received 467,000 views and Cooper’s garnered 447,000, Forbes reported. CNN’s 9 p.m. program, “The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper” trailed behind Newsmax’s “Chris Plante The Right Squad,” as the CNN program averaged 293,000 viewers and Plante’s show garnered 325,000 viewers.
One twitter user commented under Mike’s tweet, “CNN used to be in every airport and pretty much every country, Unbelievable, it had just 335 thousand viewers out of a global population of 8 billion.” Another user pointed out how Fox News still dominates the cable news market even after losing significant viewership following Tucker Carlson’s departure. The user said, “It always has been that low. Its not going down. Whats funny, even with the 50% cut Fox had after Tucker, they are still better then NBC.”
This ratings report continues a trend of a continual decline in CNN viewership. In 2022, CNN averaged the lowest viewership in its history, averaging slightly over half a million daily viewers. Fox News has long dominated the cable news market and continues to do so even after the exit of its most popular host Tucker Carlson. A public statement from Fox News media relations discussed the milestones the company hit in 2022:
FOX News Channel (FNC) notched its seventh year as leader in all of cable television while delivering the third highest-rated year ever in cable news history for 2022 in total day viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. The network’s programs continued to break new ratings records throughout the year, resulting in FNC continuing as the number one cable network in primetime and total day in viewers in basic cable for the seventh consecutive year and the highest-rated cable news network for the 21st straight year.
CNN also made headlines recently for firing its controversial host Don Lemon who announced on Twitter, “I was informed this morning by my agent that I have been terminated by CNN. I am stunned. After 17 years at CNN I would have thought that someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly. At no time was I ever given any indication that I would not be able to continue to do the work I have loved at the network. It is clear that there are some larger issues at play. With that said, I want to thank my colleagues and the many teams I have worked with for an incredible run. They are the most talented journalists in the business, and I wish them all the best.“
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