Nikki Haley’s CNN Town Hall Audience Down 80 Percent From Trump Event

Alex GriffingJun 6th, 2023, 11:51 am
 

Former South Carolina governor and 2024 GOP presidential candidate, Nikki Haley, joined CNN on Sunday night for a town hall event – CNN’s first after hosting Donald Trump on May 10th.

While Haley is certainly a well-known figure in U.S. politics, no one expected her to pull in the same kind of numbers on a Sunday night that Trump did during prime time on a weekday. With the numbers now in, we can see Trump’s event beat Haley by some 80 percent across the board.

Haley’s event, moderated by Jake Tapper, brought in 562,000 total viewers and 136,000 viewers in the key 25-54 age demographic. By contrast, Trump’s highly controversial town hall with Kaitlin Collins scored some 3.31 million total viewers and 781,000 demo viewers – a major boost for the ratings-beleaguered network that averaged below 500,000 viewers during prime time in May.

Fox News’s Sunday night programming at 8 p.m. doubled the Haley town hall as Mark Levin’s show scored 1.22 average total viewers. MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan landed in third for the hour with 450,000 total viewers. Fox’s Sunday Morning Futures was the highest-rated show for the day with 1.23 million total viewers.

However, CNN did win the demo as Levin brought in 63,000 viewers and Hasan scored 35,000. Fox swept every time slot in total viewers, except at noon when Jen Psaki – President Joe Biden’s former press secretary – won the hour. Psaki just eked out a win topping Fox News Live with 734,000 total viewers to 726,000. Psaki finished third in the demo behind both Fox and CNN.

Editor’s note: This article was edited to note that Sunday Morning Futures, not Levin was the top-rated show on Sunday. 

Here is a full breakdown of Sunday’s cable news ratings by show:

Total Viewers (thousands)

ET FNC CNN MSNBC NEWSMAX NEWSNATION
6a FOX & FRIENDS SUNDAY:
640		 CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND:
252		 AMERCAN VOICES /MENENDEZ:
205		 ALLEN JACKSON:
26		 —
7a FOX & FRIENDS SUNDAY:
860		 CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND:
319		 AYMAN:
265		 WAKE UP AMERICA WEEKEND:
122		 —
8a FOX & FRIENDS SUNDAY:
1090		 CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND:
366		 KATIE PHANG SHOW:
444		 — —
9a FOX & FRIENDS SUNDAY:
1195		 STATE OF THE UNION:
578		 SUNDAY SHOW /J. CAPEHART:
467		 — LAST MAN STANDING:
28
10a SUNDAY MORNING FUTURES:
1246		 FAREED ZAKARIA: GPS:
669		 VELSHI:
510		 SUNDAY REPORT:
110		 LAST MAN STANDING:
57
11a MEDIA BUZZ:
950		 INSIDE POLITICS:
466		 — — LAST MAN STANDING:
76
12p FOX NEWS LIVE:
726		 STATE OF THE UNION:
511		 INSIDE WITH JEN PSAKI:
734		 SUNDAY AGENDA:
140		 LAST MAN STANDING:
83
1p FOX NEWS LIVE:
661		 FAREED ZAKARIA: GPS:
472		 ALEX WITT REPORTS:
605		 — LAST MAN STANDING:
100
2p FOX NEWS SUNDAY:
650		 CNN NEWSROOM:
354		 YASMIN VOSSOUGHIAN REPRTS:
454		 RECORD WITH GRETA WEEKLY:
92		 LAST MAN STANDING:
98
3p SUNDAY MORNING FUTURES:
491		 CNN NEWSROOM:
346		 — CONVERSATIONS WITH NANCY:
66		 LAST MAN STANDING:
128
4p FOX NEWS LIVE:
566		 CNN NEWSROOM:
449		 SYMONE:
404		 D-DAY: THE DAY THAT WON T:
75		 LAST MAN STANDING:
108
5p FOX NEWS SATURDAY NIGHT:
717		 CNN NEWSROOM:
576		 POLITICS NATION:
440		 GREG KELLY THIS WEEK:
92		 LAST MAN STANDING:
138
6p FOX REPORT WITH JON SCOTT:
850		 CNN NEWSROOM:
576		 AMERCAN VOICES /MENENDEZ:
434		 MARK KAYE SHOW, THE:
79		 LAST MAN STANDING:
106
7p BIG WEEKEND SHOW, THE:
939		 CNN NEWSROOM:
406		 INSIDE WITH JEN PSAKI:
517		 GORKA REALITY CHECK; THE:
120		 NEWSNATION PRIME:
55
8p LIFE, LIBERTY AND LEVIN:
1216		 CNN TOWN HALL:
562		 MEHDI HASAN SHOW:
454		 HUCKABEE:
72		 NEWSNATION PRIME:
64
9p SUNDAY NIGHT IN AMERICA.:
1019		 — AYMAN:
450		 IT?S SUPERNATURAL:
35		 NEWSNATION PRIME:
57
10p BIG WEEKEND SHOW, THE:
765		 CNN TH: POST ANALYSIS:
466 [9:30 PM-10:59 PM]		 CULTURE IS INDIGENOUS WMN:
332		 GORKA REALITY CHECK; THE:
73		 NEWSNATION PRIME:
40
11p LIFE, LIBERTY AND LEVIN:
530		 CNN TOWN HALL:
293		 MEHDI HASAN SHOW:
276		 ROB CARSONS WHAT IN THE:
75		 NEWSNATION PRIME:
40

25-54 Demo (thousands)

ET FNC CNN MSNBC NEWSMAX NEWSNATION
6a FOX & FRIENDS SUNDAY:
78		 CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND:
49		 AMERCAN VOICES /MENENDEZ:
34		 ALLEN JACKSON:
0		 —
7a FOX & FRIENDS SUNDAY:
111		 CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND:
44		 AYMAN:
25		 WAKE UP AMERICA WEEKEND:
12		 —
8a FOX & FRIENDS SUNDAY:
137		 CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND:
54		 KATIE PHANG SHOW:
48		 — —
9a FOX & FRIENDS SUNDAY:
134		 STATE OF THE UNION:
74		 SUNDAY SHOW /J. CAPEHART:
59		 — LAST MAN STANDING:
4
10a SUNDAY MORNING FUTURES:
112		 FAREED ZAKARIA: GPS:
82		 VELSHI:
49		 SUNDAY REPORT:
7		 LAST MAN STANDING:
8
11a MEDIA BUZZ:
109		 INSIDE POLITICS:
86		 — — LAST MAN STANDING:
3
12p FOX NEWS LIVE:
113		 STATE OF THE UNION:
101		 INSIDE WITH JEN PSAKI:
75		 SUNDAY AGENDA:
5		 LAST MAN STANDING:
10
1p FOX NEWS LIVE:
77		 FAREED ZAKARIA: GPS:
112		 ALEX WITT REPORTS:
78		 — LAST MAN STANDING:
12
2p FOX NEWS SUNDAY:
70		 CNN NEWSROOM:
85		 YASMIN VOSSOUGHIAN REPRTS:
69		 RECORD WITH GRETA WEEKLY:
1		 LAST MAN STANDING:
8
3p SUNDAY MORNING FUTURES:
52		 CNN NEWSROOM:
65		 — CONVERSATIONS WITH NANCY:
1		 LAST MAN STANDING:
25
4p FOX NEWS LIVE:
69		 CNN NEWSROOM:
64		 SYMONE:
35		 D-DAY: THE DAY THAT WON T:
3		 LAST MAN STANDING:
37
5p FOX NEWS SATURDAY NIGHT:
75		 CNN NEWSROOM:
66		 POLITICS NATION:
45		 GREG KELLY THIS WEEK:
9		 LAST MAN STANDING:
40
6p FOX REPORT WITH JON SCOTT:
64		 CNN NEWSROOM:
78		 AMERCAN VOICES /MENENDEZ:
47		 MARK KAYE SHOW, THE:
13		 LAST MAN STANDING:
35
7p BIG WEEKEND SHOW, THE:
64		 CNN NEWSROOM:
82		 INSIDE WITH JEN PSAKI:
43		 GORKA REALITY CHECK; THE:
17		 NEWSNATION PRIME:
8
8p LIFE, LIBERTY AND LEVIN:
63		 CNN TOWN HALL:
136		 MEHDI HASAN SHOW:
35		 HUCKABEE:
15		 NEWSNATION PRIME:
4
9p SUNDAY NIGHT IN AMERICA.:
70		 — AYMAN:
33		 IT?S SUPERNATURAL:
3		 NEWSNATION PRIME:
7
10p BIG WEEKEND SHOW, THE:
59		 CNN TH: POST ANALYSIS:
108 [9:30 PM-10:59 PM]		 CULTURE IS INDIGENOUS WMN:
34		 GORKA REALITY CHECK; THE:
9		 NEWSNATION PRIME:
1
11p LIFE, LIBERTY AND LEVIN:
55		 CNN TOWN HALL:
65		 MEHDI HASAN SHOW:
41		 ROB CARSONS WHAT IN THE:
11		 NEWSNATION PRIME:
2

As for the three cable news networks overall, here are the total day averages in total viewers and the 25-54 demo.

Total viewers:

CNN: 417,000

Fox News: 766,000

MSNBC: 408,000

25-54 Demo:

CNN: 77,000

Fox News: 78,000

MSNBC: 46,000

Here are the prime time averages — encompassing shows which air from 8-11 p.m. — in total viewers and the 25-54 demo.

Total viewers:

CNN: 514,000

Fox News: 1.0 million

MSNBC: 412,000

25-54 Demo:

CNN: 122,000

Fox News: 64,000

MSNBC: 34,000

For more ratings information and analysis go to ShowBuzz Daily.

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Alex Griffing - Senior Editor

Alex Griffing is a Senior Editor at Mediaite. Send tips via email: alexanderg@mediaite.com. Follow him on Twitter: @alexgriffing