The headlines about a cable news network’s astronomical decline in viewership are dire. In the weeks following the presidential election, the network’s prime-time viewership dropped by about half, and numerous articles surfaced about its questionable operations.
MSNBC in 2024? Yes. But so did Fox News in 2020, CNN in 2016, and all three in 2012. MSNBC’s viewership decline is very real. In the three weeks after the Nov. 5 election, the network averaged 661,000 prime-time viewers, half the picture it drew nightly in October. But what’s forgotten amidst the headlines and media bewilderment is the fact that every presidential election – at least to some extent – creates a crater like this.
Since 2004, prime-time ratings for CNN, FOX News and MSNBC have fallen an average of 38% in the month following an election compared to October of the same year, according to Nielsen ratings analysis.
FOX News has bucked that trend so far this year, improving slightly in prime time (up about 7% compared to its post-election October average), while CNN is down 46% and MSNBC is down 52%. . Primetime coverage of the Nov. 5 presidential election averaged 42.29 million viewers across 18 cable and broadcast networks from 7 to 11 p.m. ET, according to Nielsen’s final ratings for the day. This is a significant 26 percent decrease from four years ago, when it drew 56.92 million viewers, and at the time was the highest since the viewership service began compiling total viewers in 2000. It was an election night with few viewers.
CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC took an even harder hit on Election Night, dropping 31 percent compared to 2020 (21.43 million viewers vs. 31.13 million viewers), but all three showed strong performance on digital platforms. Viewership ratings were reported. Post-election turmoil has gripped the three major cable news companies, but each network’s viewership could decline further if candidates seen as ideologically opposed win. MSNBC’s current slump is similar to the numbers seen after Donald Trump won his first term in 2016 and the network subsequently fell 41%.
Four years ago, prime-time viewers turned on Fox News (temporarily) after Joe Biden unseated Trump and some right-wing viewers wanted Biden to win a key result in Arizona. decreased by 49% in the month after the election compared to October 2020. CNN often suffers the worst declines no matter who wins, dropping more than 50% in three of the past five post-election periods. If past patterns hold, MSNBC and CNN will likely begin to recover some of their viewership in December and pick it up again after the new administration takes office.
By March 2017, two months into President Trump’s first term, CNN and MSNBC had regained most of their lost viewers, and MSNBC was on track to surpass its pre-election viewership numbers. . None of the above is to say that the future is rosy for either network. MSNBC faces an uncertain future as parent company Comcast considers spinning it off, along with several other cable assets. Additionally, CNN has been in a ratings slump for most of 2024. It’s on top of the overall problems facing all cable networks: cord cutting, consistent growth in streaming.
But both have weathered the storm several times in the past, at least when it comes to post-election ratings slumps.
This article first appeared in the December 4 issue of The Hollywood Reporter. Click here to subscribe to receive the magazine.
