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As 2024 comes to a close, Nielsen Media Research ratings for cable news confirm a clear trend: Fox News continues to dominate, while MSNBC and CNN face an uncertain future.

Fox finished the year with its ninth consecutive win as the top cable news network, leading both total viewers and the key 25-54 age demographic sought by advertisers. MSNBC took second place in total viewers, while CNN ranked second in the 25-54 demo, despite posting the lowest total day demo rating in its history.

Both Fox News and MSNBC saw year-over-year rating increases, while CNN showed gains in every category except for the total day demo.

Fox News captured over 55% of the total cable audience in prime time and 49% of total day viewers for the year, marking its largest audience share since 2015. In November, the network expanded that share to a record-breaking 62% of total viewership across the industry.

Following the election, Fox’s viewership soared even further, capturing 72% of the cable news audience in prime time during the second-to-last full week of the month. During that time, MSNBC held 16%, and CNN accounted for just 11% of cable news viewers in prime time, Mediaite reported.

Fox News also outpaced broadcast news during major events surrounding the presidential election, reaching millions more homes across the country. On election night, the network attracted a remarkable 13.6 million total viewers and 4.4 million viewers in the key demo, making it the most-watched network on all of television.

Nielsen data revealed that Fox was the top network throughout the election in key swing states such as Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Additionally, a YouGov poll found that Fox was the number one news source for Independent voters throughout the election, Mediaite noted further.

President-elect Donald Trump’s victory has resulted in significant ratings declines for MSNBC and CNN. MSNBC has seen about 61% of its demo viewers tune out post-election, dropping to just 57,000 average viewers in prime time.

CNN’s prime-time demo has been down 52% since the election, with an average of only 77,000 viewers. MSNBC’s total prime-time audience is down 55%, with an average of 620,000 viewers, while CNN has dropped 45%, with an average of 405,000 viewers, the outlet continued.

Fox News concludes the year with an average of 2.4 million prime time viewers, a 31% increase from last year, and 298,000 demo viewers, up 42% year-over-year. CNN also saw growth, up 21% in total viewership with 700,000 prime time viewers and 151,000 demo viewers, also up 21%.

MSNBC’s viewership increased by 5%, with 1.25 million average prime time viewers and 137,000 demo viewers, a 13% rise.

In total day viewership, Fox averaged 1.46 million viewers, up 21%, and 187,000 demo viewers, a 26% increase. CNN averaged 488,000 total day viewers, a 3% increase from last year, and 92,000 demo viewers, which marked a 1% decline.

CNN’s total day demo viewership reached its lowest point last year with 94,000 viewers, setting a new low for the category this year. MSNBC saw a 5% increase in total day viewers, with an average of 807,000 viewers, and a 1% increase in demo viewers to 86,000, noted Mediaite, adding:

As far as programming, Fox ends the year with the top 12 shows: The Five, Jesse Watters Primetime, Hannity, Gutfeld!, The Ingraham Angle, Special Report with Bret Baier, Outnumbered, The Faulkner Focus, America’s Newsroom with Dana Perino and Bill Hemmer, America Reports with John Roberts and Sandra Smith, The Story with Martha MacCallum, and Your World with Neil Cavuto. In the demo, Fox has the top 14 programs, with Gutfeld! leading the pack for the year and topping its broadcast late-night competition.

Fox’s long-dominant top show, The Five, notched its third straight year at number one on cable news, and became the first non-prime time program to score over 4 million average viewers for the quarter – its highest-rated quarter ever.

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