ABC, Fox News Maintain Leads in Second Quarter TV News Ratings

by

Fox News and ABC News continued to hold sizable leads in TV news ratings for the second quarter.

During the April to June period, ABC’s “World News Tonight,” hosted by David Muir, was the most-watched evening news program on the broadcast networks, averaging 7.37 million viewers per weeknight. It significantly outperformed both the “NBC Nightly News” (5.79 million) and the “CBS Evening News” (3.85 million). In fact, the difference in viewership between “World News Tonight” and NBC was its largest victory margin in a second quarter in the past 30 years, with a lead of 1.58 million viewers.

World News Tonight took the lead among key age groups, with 1.01 million viewers aged 25-54 and 700,000 viewers between 18-49. Since the first quarter of 2020, it has consistently topped network news broadcasts in the 25-54 demographic. Furthermore, it has held the top spot for total viewers since the second quarter of 2017.

World News Tonight had the most viewers among adults aged 25-54 (1.01 million) and 18-49 (700,000). It has been number one in its demographic for all quarters since early 2020, and it also holds the record for the highest total viewership since mid-2017.

During the initial three months of the year, ABC, NBC, and CBS attracted more viewers on their evening news programs; specifically, ABC had an average of 8.13 million viewers, NBC had 6.6 million, and CBS had 4.59 million. However, in the following period, all three networks experienced a decrease in viewership.

In terms of cable ratings, Fox News continued to outpace CNN and MSNBC significantly across both full-day and prime-time viewership, even if the gap narrowed slightly. Fox’s numbers decreased somewhat from a record-breaking first quarter, which was driven by the early stages of the second Trump administration, while CNN and MSNBC remained relatively consistent.

As a dedicated news enthusiast, I’ve noticed some interesting viewership statistics for my favorite channels over the past quarter. Fox News consistently maintained a strong presence with an average of 1.63 million viewers throughout the day and a staggering 2.63 million during primetime hours. However, it’s important to note that these numbers slightly dipped from the record-breaking 1.92 million and 3.01 million viewers they had in Q1.

MSNBC managed to inch up its average daily viewership to 596,000 from 593,000 in the previous quarter. Yet, their primetime audience of 1.01 million viewers showed a minor decrease compared to the 1.02 million they had in Q1.

Lastly, CNN saw a slight decline in viewership with an average of 406,000 total-day viewers and 538,000 during primetime hours. These numbers were down from the 428,000 and 558,000 they had in Q1 respectively.

These statistics serve as a fascinating insight into the dynamics of news consumption across various channels.

During the period of 25 to 54 years old, Fox News had an average of 202,000 viewers throughout the day and 304,000 during prime time for the last quarter. This is compared to their viewership of 247,000 and 380,000 in the first quarter. MSNBC’s daily average viewership remained steady at 57,000 compared to the first quarter, but their primetime viewership slightly decreased from 96,000 to 91,000. CNN had a decrease in their full day and prime time averages, from 79,000 and 121,000 in the first quarter to 71,000 and 105,000 respectively.

Read More

2025-07-01 23:25