The Audience For Cable News Has Dropped Notably This Year

The three prominent cable networks reported audience declines when first quarter 2023 is compared to the first quarter 2022. The primary reason was that the first quarter of 2022 was more newsworthy with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, compared to the most recent three months. Another reason were the programming changes primarily at CNN and MSNBC which affected viewership. With cable TV audiences continuing to erode from cord-cutting and lack of investments in scripted content, news (and sports) remains the highest rated programming genres. Of the 100+ cable networks measured by Nielsen, only three averaged over one million viewers in primetime all three were news or sports networks.

Fox News, with its primetime (M-Sun 8 p.m.-11 p.m. ET) lineup intact from last year, Fox News was once again the most watched cable network. During the first three months of 2023 Fox News led in both prime time and broadcast day. In primetime Fox News averaged 2.088 million viewers, making it the only cable network to average over two million viewers. Nonetheless, year-over-year the average audience dropped by -18% and -6% from fourth quarter 2022. According to Adweek, first quarter 2023 marked the 85^th consecutive quarter Fox News was the most watched cable network. In addition, the Fox News audience was higher than MSNBC and CNN combined.

For broadcast day (M-Sun 6 a.m.-6 a.m.), Fox News also ranked first with an average audience of 1.364 million viewers, a -15% fall-off from first quarter 2022 and -6% from fourth quarter 2022. The right-wing channel however, was the only cable network to average over one million viewers for the total day. Despite double-digit declines, Fox News also led rival networks with adults 25-to-54 viewership, the so-called “news demo in both dayparts”

The most noteworthy programming change last year was the premiere of Jesse Watters Primetime on January 24. The one-hour opinion program airs at 7 p.m. (ET). Previously, the time slot was a news program hosted by Martha MacCallum before she moved to 3 p.m. (ET), post-2020 election. Before the naming of Watters, the one-hour had been filled by rotating hosts. Other recent programming changes occurred primarily during the weekend.

In the first quarter, the ten most watched cable news programs were all on Fox News; led by The Five at, Tucker Carlson Tonight, Jesse Watters Primetime, Hannity and Special Report with Bret Baier.

Recently, Fox News ratings have held up despite an impending court hearing involving the network and Dominion Voting Systems. Dominion is suing Fox News $1.6 billion in a defamation lawsuit. Jury selection begins on April 13. Fox News has kept its audience in the dark about their role in this potentially landmark decision involving the press.

In first quarter primetime, MSNBC averaged 1.11 million viewers ranking third among all cable networks (behind Fox News and ESPN). The audience delivery was -8% compared to both one year ago and the previous quarter. Year-over-year, the audience fall-off was greater among adults 25-54 of -15%. Impacting MSNBCs audience delivery was Rachel Maddow, host of the network’s top- rated The Rachel Maddow Show, announcement in February 2022 of going on hiatus to concentrate on other projects. In April, Maddow scaled back her primetime news program to only Monday nights. Maddow also appears sporadically in primetime to recap special news events.

For the broadcast day, MSNBC averaged 703,000 viewers, again ranking third behind Fox News and ESPN. The audience delivery was down only slightly (-1%) from the previous year and -7% from the previous quarter.

Among the notable programming changes in the past year on MSNBC was expanding Morning Joe to a fourth hour (M-F 9 a.m.-10 a.m. ET) effective last April 4. Another change was Stephanie Ruhle leaving MSNBC Reports program at 9 a.m. (ET) to be the new host of the 11^th Hour (M-F 11 p.m.-12 a.m. ET) replacing Brian Williams. Williams had left the network in December 2021. Ruhle took over on March 2, 2022. More recently, this month MSNBC debuted Inside with Jen Psaki, which airs at Noon (ET) each Sunday. For the quarter, MSNBC’s top-rated show was The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell which ranked 13^th among all newscasts.

No cable news network however, has undergone a bigger change in the past year than CNN. First quarter 2022 was the last full quarter before Discovery finalized their acquisition of Warner Media (including CNN) last April. Besides shuttering the nascent streamer CNN+ one month after its launch, another change was naming Chris Licht as the chairman and CEO of the network last May. In a cost-cutting decision, a reported 400 CNN employees were let go. In addition, last December CNN announced they would no longer produce original content for Headline News. Nonetheless, in the first quarter 2023 Headline News averaged more primetime viewers at 190,000 than both NewsMax TV (113,000) and NewsNation (98,000).

In first quarter 2023 primetime, CNN reported an average audience of 568,000 viewers, ranking 14^th among all cable networks. Year-over-year viewership declined by -34% and by -12% compared to fourth quarter 2022. For the broadcast day, CNN averaged 478,000 viewers, ranking fourth among all cable networks behind Fox News, ESPN and MSNBC. Despite the high ranking, CNN’s audience delivery declined by -27% from one year ago and -10% from fourth quarter 2022. For the “news demo” CNN’s audience year-over-year has dropped by more than one-third for both primetime and broadcast day. CNN’s top- rated program of the quarter was Anderson Cooper 360, which ranked 26^th among all newscasts.

Under Chris Licht, CNN’s biggest programming change to date has been moving Don Lemon, the anchor of the 10 p.m. (ET) program Don Lemon Tonight, to co-anchor a morning show CNN This Morning (M-F 6 a.m.- 9 a.m. ET) with Poppy Harlow and Kaitlin Collins. The show debuted last November. Moving Lemon had left CNN with two openings for program hosts in primetime. In December 2021, CNN terminated Chris Cuomo the host of Cuomo Prime Time at 9 p.m. (ET). While the news network has been airing special programming, CNN is still seeking a permanent host. Alisyn Camerota is reportedly concentrating on the 10 p.m. (ET) time slot.

More lineup changes are in store including a renovated CNN Dayside lineup. CNN announced in the first three-hour block starting at 9 a.m. the hosts will be John Berman, Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner. For the second three-hour block beginning at 1 p.m. (ET) the anchors will be Brianna Keilar, Boris Sanchez and Jim Sciutto. The six-hour weekday daytime block will debut in April.