January Ratings: Fox News Hits 20 Years at Number 1, While CNN and MSNBC See Massive Drops From Last Year
Fox News made history in January, becoming the first cable news network to top the charts for 20 years in a row in terms of both total average viewers and in the key 25-54 age demographic. The month saw Fox dominate its competitors, yet again, as both CNN and MSNBC struggled to recapture their incredible ratings from January 2021.
CNN noted in its press release the lens through which the network would like year-over-year comparisons to be viewed. The release fairly explained that the “Capitol Insurrection (CNN’s most-watched day in history), the impeachment and acquittal of a president and the inauguration of a new one” was a “time of unprecedented news” that inflated viewership, meaning that any comparison will be harsh as a result.
While CNN’s point is well taken, the network’s overall drop in year-over-year ratings was greater than its competitors.
Year-over-year, Fox News is up 4% in total viewers and down 7% in the demo for day time programs. While in prime time Fox is down 12% in total viewers and 20% in the demo.
MSNBC ended the month down 60% in total viewers and 75% in the demo for day time programming compared to last year, while during prime time the network is down 56% in total viewers and 73% in the demo.
CNN meanwhile is down 74% in total viewers and 81% in the demo during day time and is down 77% in total viewers and 82% down in the demo during prime time.
Both CNN and MSNBC had further to fall than Fox as this time last year CNN closed out January as the most-watched network on cable news, with MSNBC a close second.
CNN averaged a remarkable 795,000 prime time demo viewers and 3.1 million total viewers in January 2021 – this month those numbers are down to 140,000 and 633,000, respectively.
While CNN struggled to crack the million viewer mark for any of its shows this past month, Fox aired six programs that exceeded 2 million viewers for the month and had 14 of the top 15 rated shows on cable.
Fox also boasted 91 of the top 100 cable news telecasts, while CNN failed to land a show in the top 100.
MSNBC’s highlight was The Rachel Maddow Show, which pulled in an average of 2.1 million total viewers and 245,000 average viewers in the demo – Rachel Maddow’s lowest monthly demo average since December 2015.
While Maddow landed inside the top 15 programs on cable news, the second-highest-rated show on MSNBC, Lawrence O’Donnell’s Last Word averaged 1.3 million total viewers, ranking just outside.
CNN ranked second in terms of the demo, beating out MSNBC in both day time and prime time. CNN’s Anderson Cooper led the network in both total viewers and in the demo with 771,000 and 171,000 viewers, respectively.
MSNBC, however, did top CNN in terms of total average viewers.
Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott commented on her networks dominance, noting:
I am immensely proud of this landmark achievement as it is a testament to the dedicated teams across FOX News Channel, who are the backbone in making us number one for 20 consecutive years with the most loyal and politically diverse audience in cable news.
The political diversity Scott refers to is in regards to the amount of Democrats and Independents watching Fox News.
According to Nielsen MRI/Fusion data (from October) Fox attracted more “Democrat and Independent viewers in both total day and prime time than CNN and MSNBC.” Additionally, Tucker Carlson Tonight ranked as the number one program among Democrats in the demo while Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and The Five placed among the top four cable news programs with Democrats in total viewers.
Two other notable trends on Fox News were the launch of Jesse Watters Prime Time, which debuted in late January with over 3 million total viewers. Watters has continued to land in third place on the network, bumping Hannity out of the top three most-watched shows on cable.
In late-night programming, Greg Gutfeld, who along with Watters co-hosts cables most-watched show The Five, continues to best his broadcast competition. Gutfeld! finished January at number one on cable television in his 11 p.m. time slot with 1.9 million total average viewers, which was also enough to top ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! and NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in total viewers.
Here are the total day averages in total viewers and the 25-54 category for the month of January
Total viewers:
CNN: 493,000
Fox 1.41 million
MSNBC: 656,000
25-54 Demo:
CNN: 101,000
Fox News: 226,000
MSNBC: 74,000
Here are the prime time averages — encompassing shows which air from 8-11 p.m. — in total viewers and the 25-54 demo for the month of January.
Total viewers:
CNN: 633,000
Fox News: 2.24 million
MSNBC: 1.15 million
25-54 Demo:
CNN: 140,000
Fox News: 338,000
MSNBC: 130,000
