MSNBC and CNN experienced large drops in viewership since January, Friday’s cable news ratings showed.
In January, Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC show was the top-rated cable news program with an average of 4,326,000 viewers during the month. Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” came in second with an average of 3,666,000 viewers, and CNN’s Chris Cuomo was third with an average of 3,622,000 viewers, according to cable news ratings provided by AdWeek’s TVNewser.
MSNBC’s other primetime shows, “All In with Chris Hayes” and “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell,” had an average of 2,656,000 viewers and 3,369,000 viewers in January, respectively. “Anderson Cooper 360” had an average of 3,361,000 viewers in January and Don Lemon had an average of 2,749,000 viewers in January — both shows air during primetime on CNN.
Fox News’ “Hannity” averaged 3,182,000 viewers in January, and “The Ingraham Angle” averaged 2,535,000 viewers. (RELATED: The Numbers Are In: Trump’s Exit From The World Stage Led To A Network Ratings Bloodletting)
The cable news ratings that came out Friday, May 7, showed a “profound drop” in average CNN viewers, The Hill media and political columnist Joe Concha pointed out Monday on Twitter.
“The drop CNN is experiencing is profound,” Concha said. “On Friday, not one program broke 900K total viewers. Prime averaged less than 800K overall.”
“For comparison, the network averaged 2.74 million viewers in January, so we’re talking about more than two-thirds of the audience – gone,” he added.
The drop CNN is experiencing is profound. On Friday, not one program broke 900K total viewers. Prime averaged less than 800K overall.
For comparison, the network averaged 2.74 million viewers in January, so we’re talking about more than two-thirds of the audience – gone. https://t.co/a4f14QXStm
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) May 10, 2021
The number of viewers for CNN’s Friday primetime shows was fewer than 900,000, cable news ratings showed according to AdWeek’s TVNewser. “Anderson Cooper 360” had 753,000 viewers, “Cuomo Prime Time” had 881,000 viewers, and “CNN Tonight with Don Lemon” had 764,000 viewers.
MSNBC also saw a drop in viewership. Chris Hayes had 1,600,000 viewers Friday, Rachel Maddow had 2,495,000 viewers, and Lawrence O’Donnell had 1,348,000 viewers. Fox News had a drop in viewership as well, although not quite as dramatic — “Tucker Carlson Tonight” had 2,663,000 viewers, “Hannity” had 1,868,000 viewers, and “The Ingraham Angle” had 1,628,000 viewers.