The Lead

Every cable news network — from Newsmax to Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, and NewsNation — saw a double-digit uptick in viewership in primetime during the week of June 9th. No one saw a higher jump than Newsmax, however.

Fox News continued to lead the cable news ratings — and all of cable television for that matter — during the week. In primetime, it averaged 3.2 million viewers. That marked the first time since the week of March 3rd that the network earned more than 3 million viewers in primetime. For the week, Fox News saw its primetime audience grow by 25%, while its finish with the key Adults 25-54 demographic, with 406,000 viewers, was up 58% compared to the previous week.

Newsmax saw the highest increase in primetime viewership for the week. The network finished with 295,000 total viewers in the window, a 42% increase compared to the previous week. Additionally, Newsmax saw an increase of 108% in the key demographic during the week.

MSNBC averaged 1.1 million viewers in primetime, a 15% increase compared to the previous week. It also marked the first time the network earned more than 1 million total viewers in primetime since the week of April 28th.

After seeing a string of its lowest performances of the year, with the network dropping below 400,000 total viewers in primetime, CNN saw a strong bounceback during the first two weeks of June. After nearly doubling its audience between May 26th and June 2nd, CNN saw its best finish of 2025 with 775,000 total viewers in primetime. That figure represents a 25% increase compared to the previous week.

Additionally, CNN equaled its best performance of the year in the Adults 25-54 demographic, reaching 167,000 viewers on average. It also reached the same figure during the week of March 3rd.

NewsNation saw an increase of just under 30% during the week of June 9th. During the primetime window, it averaged 146,000 total viewers. It also doubled its audience for the previous week in the key demographic, up to 18,000 viewers.

NBC Nightly News Bounces Back in Tom Llamas’ 2nd Week

In the first week of Tom Llamas’ tenure leading NBC Nightly News, the program saw a slight decline, dropping by just under 5% compared to the final week of Lester Holt’s era leading the newscast.

During Llamas’ second week, however, ratings returned to where they were during the final days of Holt’s tenure.

For the week of June 9th, NBC Nightly News averaged 5.7 million viewers, up from the 5.4 million it saw during Llamas’ first week. While it didn’t completely recapture its previous audience, it earned back just under 4% of what it lost in the transition.

The gains were especially noticeable in the coveted Adults 25-54 demographic. During Llamas’ first week, the broadcast averaged 771,000 viewers from that sector. In the second week, that figure rose nearly 10% to 844,000 viewers in the key demo.

All three network newscasts saw bumps from the previous week. The news was especially positive for CBS Evening News, which eclipsed more than 4 million viewers for the first week since March 24th. It saw a 6.5% increase in viewership between June 2nd and June 9th, finishing with 4.2 million viewers for the week. That result marked the highest performance for the nightly newscast since the week President Donald Trump addressed a joint session of Congress in a quasi-State of the Union speech.

Meanwhile, ABC News remained on top of the nightly newscast ratings. World News Tonight saw a 4% uptick in viewership during the week of June 9th, up to 7.2 million. It also eclipsed 1 million viewers in the key demographic for the first time since the week of April 21st. NBC News averaged 844,000 viewers in the Adults 25-54 demographic for the week, while CBS News earned 547,000.

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Garrett Searight

Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing daily news stories, features, and opinion columns. He joined Barrett Media in 2022 after a decade leading several radio brands in several formats, as well as a 5-year stint working in local television. In addition to his work with Barrett Media, he is a radio and TV play-by-play broadcaster. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.