The Lead
NBC Nightly News became the second network newscast to see a change in its anchor chair in 2025, as Tom Llamas replaced Lester Holt last week.
Holt led the show for nearly 10 years before stepping aside in late May. During his final week, NBC Nightly News averaged 5.7 million total viewers.
That figure declined during the first week of Llamas’ tenure leading the venerable newscast. For the first week of June and the first week of Tom Llamas anchoring the program, NBC News averaged 5.4 million viewers. That represents a decline of 4.7% in total audience compared to the previous week.
The network saw a wider audience loss in the coveted Adults 25-54 demographic. That figure fell from 831,000 viewers during the final week of Lester Holt anchoring the show to 771,000 viewers as Tom Llamas stepped into the chair. That’s a decrease of 7.2% in the demographic.
Despite the decrease in overall viewership, NBC News claims that 27% of the viewership during the first two nights of Tom Llamas anchoring NBC Nightly News had not previously watched the program in the preceding five weeks.
The decline for NBC News in total viewership is more significant than the immediate losses suffered by CBS Evening News as former anchor Norah O’Donnell departed the program earlier this year in favor of John Dickerson, Maurice DuBois, and Margaret Brennan.
In January, CBS News averaged 4.9 million viewers during O’Donnell’s final week. The following week, featuring the debut of the new anchors, saw 4.8 million viewers, a drop of just 1.6% overall.
However, since that week, CBS Evening News has seen a steady decline in overall viewership. During the final week of May, the network’s newscast fell to its lowest total of 2025, down to 3.6 million total viewers. That figure did see an 8% increase during the first week of June, as the newscast featured 3.9 million viewers on average.
ABC World News Tonight with David Muir reigned supreme during the first week of the month, as it averaged just under 7 million total viewers. Despite the victory, it was the second-lowest total for the newscast of 2025. The program also earned the top spot in the key demographic, widening the gap that NBC News had previously shrunk. The ABC News program finished the week with an average of 907,000 in-demo viewers.
Fox News, MSNBC, CNN Begin June on Stronger Footing
Ratings for Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN have declined — to various degrees — over the past few months compared to previous 2025 highs. But the first week of June was an encouraging one to the three cable news networks.
Fox News continued its domination of the space, finishing the week of June 2nd with an average of 2.4 million viewers in primetime. While that figure is down from the 3.9 million high it saw during the first week of March, it is a 4% increase compared to the previous week, which did include the Memorial Day holiday.
Additionally, MSNBC saw its best ratings performance since the final week of April, as it finished the first week of June with 965,000 total viewers in primetime on average. That’s a 34% increase compared to the previous week, when it dropped to its lowest total of 2025 with 718,000 total viewers.
Similarly, CNN also hit a new low during the final week of May, down to just 374,000 total viewers in primetime. That network roared back during the first week of June with 619,000 total viewers on average, according to figures from Nielsen. That’s a 66% surge compared to the previous week.
The finish is also the best performance for CNN since the first week of March which included the address by President Donald Trump to a joint session of Congress, a quasi-State of the Union speech. The 619,000 total viewership mark is the fourth best finish of 2025 for CNN, falling just shy of the same figures the network saw during the week of Trump’s inauguration in January.
CNN saw an even larger increase in the key demographic, finishing with a 77% increase in viewership week-over-week with 108,000 viewers. It also overtook MSNBC for second place in the coveted demo, while both networks are being more than doubled by Fox News, which finished the primetime category with 256,000 in-demo viewers. That figure represents a week-over-week increase of 7%.
Newsmax Sees Audience Growth with Streaming Platform
Newsmax has seen its ratings grow in recent years, and that isn’t contained to its cable television network.
The company’s streaming platform — Newsmax2 — saw a 25% year-over-year audience increase in total viewership, Newsmax says.
More than 21.5 million viewers tuned into the streaming platform during the fifth month of 2025, the network says. Additionally, it reports a 36% uptick in average time spent watching during the month compared to the previous year.
Newsmax2 features programs hosted by hosts like Ed Henry, Wendy Bell, and Rudy Giuliani, among others. It is available on over-the-air digital broadcast channels, OTT FAST platforms, and on the Newsmax app and website.
“Our strategy of offering free and paid channels is working well for Newsmax, and we expect to continue to see growth in these areas in the future,” Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy said.
While the streaming platform has seen growth, the cable ratings for Newsmax have slumped in recent weeks, aligning with nearly every other cable network during the months of May and June. The network — which had averaged as high as 382,000 total viewers in primetime earlier this year, averaged 208,000 for the week of June 2nd. That’s a slight decline from the previous week, which finished with 211,000 total viewers.
In the total day viewership category, Newsmax saw an increase during the first week of June, up to 146,000 total viewers from the previous week’s 142,000.
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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.
