Cable news viewership plummets in May 2021 compared to the year prior. Fox News leads the big three cable news networks in total day and primetime viewers. Furthermore, Fox News is #1 in the age 25-54 demo.
The network shared a snapshot of total day and primetime viewership in a press release. Compared to May a year ago, Fox News total day viewers declined 37%. Meanwhile CNN saw the largest decline- a 44% drop in total day viewers. MSNBC was second in total day viewers behind Fox. In addition, MSNBC had the smallest decline (down 28%) compared their competitors.
MAY 2021 VS. MAY 2020 NIELSEN NUMBERS (seven day week, L+SD):
TOTAL DAY
FNC: 1,187,000 total viewers – down 37% (203,000 in 25-54 – down 38%)
CNN: 610,000 total viewers – down 44% (147,000 in 25-54 – down 51%)
MSNBC: 835,000 total viewers – down 28% (108,000 in 25-54 – down 39%)
PRIMETIME
FNC: 2,166,000 total viewers – down 37% (345,000 in 25-54 – down 38%)
CNN: 913,000 total viewers – down 45% (218,000 in 25-54 – down 53%)
MSNBC: 1,494,000 total viewers – down 22% (199,000 in 25-54 – down 32%)
All three networks saw significant declines in primetime viewership during May. CNN was third in primetime with 913,000 total viewers, a 45% decline year over year. MSNBC was second in primetime with nearly 1.5 million total viewers, a 22% decrease from the year prior. Finally, Fox News led in total viewers (over 2.1 million) but saw a 37% drop from May 2020.
Other highlights that Fox News shared:
- Host Greg Gutfeld’s new weekday program Gutfeld! finished its second consecutive month as the number one-rated program in all of cable in total viewers at 11PM/ET.
- FNC remained the only cable network to deliver over 2 million viewers in primetime, edging out both CNN and Discovery combined from 8-11PM/ET in addition to total day.
- CNN’s primetime lineup shed two-thirds of its audience in total viewers and nearly 75 percent of its viewers in the demo since January. In total day viewers, CNN lost nearly 70 percent of its audience, with a staggering 72 percent drop in the demo since the beginning of the year.
- During May, FNC claimed seven of the top 10 cable news programs in overall viewers, the top four in the key 25-54 demo and comprised 59 of the top 100 cable telecasts overall.
News audiences are driven by events, so thinking back to last May, news consumers were eager to consume information about the still developing COVID-19 pandemic. That includes huge health, political and economic impacts. In addition, George Floyd died on May 25, 2020 while in police custody. That event sparked the beginning of calls for justice around the country.
Fast forward to today and about 63% of adults in the U.S. have received at least one vaccination shot. Case numbers in the United States remain headed in a positive direction, though holiday reporting lags have depressed current averages somewhat. Before Memorial Day weekend, new cases dropped below 22,000 per day, on average, for the first time since June of 2020.
Fox News has just launched a new weekend lineup, featuring new shows with Trey Gowdy and Dan Bongino.
