CNN and MSNBC ratings have been down sharply since Donald Trump won the 2024 election.
It makes sense. While Fox News dominates the cable news space with its conservative slant, CNN and MSNBC attract the other side of the political aisle. And when that side was demoralized by Trump’s victory, it tuned out, which left ratings plummeting for the two cable news channels.
But January 20th marked a new page in the cable news networks not named Fox News and Newsmax vs Donald Trump. When the now 47th President recited the Oath of Office, the new era of “What in the actual hell is this guy doing?” that was so prevalent in his first administration was ushered in.
Truthfully, it comes at a good time for CNN and MSNBC. Make no mistake about it — despite the insistence from hosts, analysts, correspondents, and contributors that they don’t care about these things — Donald Trump is good for ratings. One side views him as a demigod who has no faults and can do no wrong, while the other sees the hellbent on personal gain anti-Christ. Few people are neutral on Donald Trump. And it’s an undeniably good thing for these two cable networks.
There was plenty of cannon fodder on Monday as Trump enacted dozens of executive orders and pardoned January 6th criminals in his first actions as President. Additionally, the “totally not a Nazi salute” from Elon Musk has gotten and will continue to get plenty of play from MSNBC and CNN, which will continue to get them bigger audiences.
Because if there’s one thing that’s true of the cable news ecosystem in 2025, it’s that it thrives on outrage and polarization. Actually, that’s true of virtually everything in 2025, but it’s especially true of cable news. The art of pissing the audience off over the most mundane subjects has been perfected by Fox News and adopted by everyone else in the game. Fox News just happens to be the expert at it, while everyone else is still learning to copycat.
But with “the opposition” party going back into strength — not just in the White House, but in both houses of Congress, too — it allows MSNBC and CNN to get back to playing offense in the outrage game. For the past four years, they’ve been forced to play defense with Joe Biden in the White House. Those days, however, are at least temporarily over as Trump sits behind the Resolute desk.
Instead of spending years in “Well, actually, here’s why this isn’t bad” mode, the two networks can now pounce on the things that those in Trump’s inner circle and those who are Trump-adjacent think, say, and do. And when you’re playing offense, you get to constantly but your opponent on their heels. You know where you’re going and they’re the ones who have to figure it out. Which, again — in my opinion — is an undeniably good thing for these two networks.
For years, they’ve had to react to comments from conservative legislators and pundits from their heels. But as we saw in the first go around with Trump, the stakes will be raised. A microscope will be held to everything the administration does. Heck, Trump didn’t take the Oath of Office before he essentially defied Congress and the United States constitution by unilaterally deciding that TikTok was gonna stick around for a while. And that was a story for the C-block, if at all, in cable news shows.
MSNBC and CNN need ratings upticks. And fast. What’s the quickest remedy for those issues? It isn’t high-quality, well-researched, fact-based reporting, as disappointing of a sentence that is to write. It fastest way to get more people to watch is to make them angry. And it feels like an inevitability that we’ll see those strategies put into action in the not-so-distant future.
Does it make for an incredibly long four years? Absolutely. Does it make you question “Can you seriously be pissed off about everything for an entire presidential term? Undeniably. But is it good for the cable news business? 100%.
Let’s be frank, the second Donald Trump administration — despite what any bright-eyed and bushy-tail supporters might think — is going to present a bountiful harvest of outrage opportunities for the likes of CNN and MSNBC. There are few figures in the annals of history that are as polarizing as Donald Trump. And if the networks use the polarization and outrage to their advantage, it might just be what saves each from irrelevance.
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Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing bi-weekly industry features and a weekly column. He has previously served as Program Director and Afternoon Co-Host on 93.1 The Fan in Lima, OH, and is the radio play-by-play voice of Northern Michigan University hockey. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
