The Lead
To begin 2025, all of the talk in the cable news world was about the ratings slump CNN and MSNBC had seen after Donald Trump won the presidential election.
Unfortunately for CNN, things have gotten worse.
During the week of May 12th, CNN averaged 405,000 total viewers in the primetime window. That represents a new low for 2025, which was set in the week before the inauguration of Trump at 448,000.
Furthermore, the most recent week was an 11% decline from the previous week’s primetime ratings of 456,000 total viewers. It also marked the fifth straight week that CNN failed to eclipse more than half-a-million viewers in primetime.
The network had steadied the ship between the quasi-State of the Union address from President Trump in early March through the first week of April, finishing with as many as 716,000 total viewers in the daypart. But since the onset of April, CNN has seen a decline, dropping from 584,000 the week of April 7th to just over 400,000 last week.
The losses for CNN were not contained to the total viewership category. It also set a new low for 2025 in the Adults 25-54 demographic. During the week of May 12th, the network averaged 74,000 viewers in the coveted demo. Its previous low was 81,000 during the week of April 28th.
Since the week of April 14th, CNN has averaged 81,600 viewers in the key demo. In the weeks leading up to April 14th, its average audience in the sector was just over 119,000 viewers.
CNN isn’t alone in the recent slump. MSNBC has seen its ratings decline in recent weeks, too. During the week of March 31st, MSNBC averaged 1.237 million viewers in primetime. Last week, that number had fallen 34%, down to 811,000.
During the final week of Rachel Maddow’s run of hosting nightly shows during the first 100 days of the Trump administration, MSNBC averaged just over 1 million viewers in the daypart. In the first two weeks since she returned to her previous Monday-only schedule, MSNBC has failed to eclipse an average of 1 million viewers in the window, resting at 892,000 total viewers during the week of May 5th and the aforementioned 811,000 viewers last week.
Like CNN, MSNBC has seen a decline in the Adults 25-54 demo. After finishing the week of April 21st with an average audience of 100,000 from the category, it has declined each week from 88,000 (April 28th), to 77,000 (May 5th), and 67,000 last week. The news isn’t as bleak for MSNBC in the demo as CNN, as MSNBC is still above it’s previous lows of 2025, when it saw 55,000 viewers from the key demographic during the first week of the calendar year.
While CNN and MSNBC see declines again, Fox News has bounced back from some previous lulls in its primetime ratings. After nearly bottoming out during the month of April, the network has returned to finishing just shy of 2.5 million viewers in the primetime window. For the week of May 12th, it was up 2% compared to the previous week, finishing at 2.499 million viewers.
Additionally, Fox News saw gains in the key demo compared to the previous week. It was up 10% week-over-week, finishing with an average of 282,000 viewers from the sector.
This Week with George Stephanopoulos Sees Large Rebound to Take Top Sunday Spot
The ratings battle in the Sunday political affairs arena has been a tight one, with Face the Nation (CBS News) and Meet the Press (NBC News) each winning weeks throughout the year. ABC News’ This Week with George Stephanopoulos joined the fray with a big jump to take the top spot during shows on May 18th.
The program finished with 2.480 million viewers on May 18th, besting CBS News (2.443 million) and NBC News (2.244 million) in the Sunday political affairs ratings. That figure for ABC News represented a 19% increase compared to the previous week, when it finished with just under 2.1 million total viewers.
Notably, Sunday’s program wasn’t anchored by Stephanopoulos who was on assignment. Jonathan Karl anchored the program, which featured a discussion with Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, as well as an interview with Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).
While ABC News saw the lead in total viewers, Meet the Press — moderated by Kristen Welker for NBC News — earned the top spot in the key adults 25-54 demographic. It featured 409,000 viewers from the sector, compared to 356,000 for ABC News, and 308,000 for CBS News.
Fox News Sunday averaged 969,000 total viewers on Sunday, May 18th. It featured 193,000 viewers from the key demographic.
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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.
Amazing! We’re talking about a few hundred thousand or even a million viewers in a country of 350 million. Nobody is watching…even #1 FOX has poor numbers in relation to total people.