The Lead
Will Cain has continued to see a strong performance since launching his show in the 4 PM ET timeslot for Fox News last month.
During the week of February 3rd, The Will Cain Show averaged 2.8 million viewers, with 348,000 coming in the Adults 25-54 demographic. That’s an 89% year-over-year increase in total viewers and a 110% gain in the key demographic. Will Cain stepped into the timeslot previously occupied by Neal Cavuto, who departed the network late last year.
Fox News has seen a ratings surge since Donald Trump secured a return to the White House on Election Day 2024.
The network continues to hold the lion’s share of the cable news audience, with 60% of both the total day and primetime viewership being tuned into the network.
During the week of February 3rd, Fox News averaged just over 3 million viewers in the primetime (8-11 PM ET) window. That more than doubled challenger MSNBC, which averaged 1.2 million viewers in the same timeslot. MSNBC was second in the overall cable TV rankings in that category behind Fox News.
CNN finished the week seventh in the primetime rankings with 508,000 total viewers. The network was also fourth in the total day category, as it averaged an audience of 417,000.
Fox News also led the total day viewership sector for all of cable news. It featured an average of 2 million viewers, according to Nielsen, while MSNBC was second with 657,000.
In the Adults 25-54 demographic, Fox News earned the top spot in both the primetime (398,000 viewers) and total day (258,000 viewers) categories. CNN was the second-best cable news network in the total day ratings inside the key demo, earning seventh with 78,000 viewers. MSNBC was close behind in 9th with 72,000 viewers from the sector, on average. The order was reversed in the primetime rankings, with MSNBC earning 8th with 118,000 A25-54 viewers, and CNN finishing 9th with 115,000 from the demo.
Newsmax Up More Than 40% In Primetime to Start February
Newsmax continues to see ratings gains throughout the day, but especially in the primetime hours.
For the first week of February, the cable network averaged 312,000 viewers from 8-11 PM ET. That represents a 43% increase compared to the final week of January, when it saw 208,000 total viewers.
That 312,000 total audience figure was enough to propel Newsmax to 15th place in the overall cable TV ratings. In December, Newsmax was, at times, as far down the list as 26th.
In the total day viewership rankings, the network was 17th with an average audience of 212,000 total viewers.
For the week, Newsmax saw an average of 29,000 viewers from the coveted demographic during primetime, while NewsNation earned 14,000 in that window.
In the total day ratings, Newsmax averaged 18,000, with NewsNation dropping to 10,000.
CBS Evening News Continues Slide
Last week, we shared that the revamped CBS Evening News — now being led by anchors John Dickerson, Maurice DuBois, and Margaret Brennan — had seen a slight dip in the overall ratings since the departure of Norah O’Donnell.
That slide continued during the week of February 3rd.
During the week, the nightly newscast saw a 5% decline in total viewers, dropping from 4.8 million to 4.6 million. The drop wasn’t limited to total viewers, as it also dipped slightly in the coveted Adults 25-54 demographic, down to 666,000 viewers in that segment.
ABC World News Tonight continued its dominance in the category, earning an average of 8.2 million viewers for the week. It also featured 1.2 million viewers from the key demo.
NBC Nightly News, meanwhile, averaged 6.7 million viewers and just over 1 million viewers in the Adults 25-54 demographic for the week.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
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.
