November Ratings: Fox News Dominated All of Television on Lackluster Election Night, Gutfeld! and CNN Grow Audiences
Fox News yet again topped the cable news ratings in November, just as the network has for much of 2022, but with the midterm elections early in the month that dominance was on full display.
While Fox News beat MSNBC and CNN in both total day and prime time viewers, for the fourth straight month, both MSNBC and CNN did show year-over-year growth from November 2021 – with CNN posting particularly strong growth in the key 25-54 age demographic in prime time.
On the night of November 8th, as much of the country was glued to their television screens watching election returns, Fox News brought in the largest audience in all of television – beating broadcast channels that appear for free in many more homes across the country.
Fox managed to top ABC, NBC, and CBS with its 7,422,000 viewers and 1,879,000 viewers in the demo, also beating CNN and MSNBC combined in both categories. Overall, however, election night viewing decreased by almost 30 percent from 2018.
The total viewers for this year’s midterms, according to Nielsen, landed at 25.4 million, with only the 2002 midterms coming in with fewer viewers. 2018 saw a total audience of 36.1 million total viewers across five broadcast networks, ABC, CBS, NBC, Telemundo, and Univision, and six cable networks. This year Nielsen measured the same five broadcast networks and cable news networks including CNN, CNN en Espanol, Fox Business, Fox News, MSNBC, Newsmax, and newcomer NewsNation.
For the month, Fox News accounted for 56% of all cable news viewers across prime time and 54% in total day. Additionally, according to Nielsen MRI Fusion data, Fox News continued to be the most-watched network among all political groups as more Independents and Democrats watch Fox News than tune into MSNBC and CNN, but as total day and prime time viewers.
Year over year, however, Fox News saw slight dips in total day time ratings, as November 2021 saw 1% more total viewers and 16% more demo viewers than November 2022. During prime time, Fox was also down 16% in the demo and 6% in total viewers.
CNN’s bright spot in the ratings was a 26% gain year over year in the prime time demo and a 14% boost in total prime time viewers from November 2021. MSNBC also saw gains year over year, including a 13% gain in total day viewers and a 16% gain in total day demo viewers from 2021.
Fox News’s Gutfeld! also posted its best numbers yet in both the demo and in total viewers, beating The Late Show with Stephen Colbert for the month in the demo – a first for the program. Fox News’s The Five remained the top-rated show in terms of total viewers for the eighth consecutive month, notching the top spot for 11 out of the last 12 months.
While Fox News landed the top 14 rated shows on cable news for the month, Lawrence O’Donnell led the non-Fox News hosts with the 15th highest-rated program, followed by his MSNBC colleagues Chris Hayes, Ari Melber, and Nicolle Wallace.
CNN’s Anderson Cooper led his network with the top-rated show, landing at 24th overall.
Here are the total day averages in total viewers and the 25-54 category during the month of November.
Total viewers:
CNN: 560,000
Fox 1.57 million
MSNBC: 752,000
25-54 Demo:
CNN: 124,000
Fox News: 227,000
MSNBC: 93,000
Here are the prime time averages — encompassing shows which air from 8-11 p.m. —during the month of November.
Total viewers:
CNN: 749,000
Fox News: 2.44 million
MSNBC: 1.20 million
25-54 Demo:
CNN: 190,000
Fox News: 356,000
MSNBC: 148,000
