NBC News led all television outlets in Election Night viewership, according to Nielsen’s preliminary ratings. CNN, MS NOW, and Fox News finished within 50,000 viewers of one another.
What We Know: NBC News averaged 6.52 million viewers during primetime Tuesday, marking a significant turnaround from the 2022 midterms. The network finished fourth among the six most-watched outlets four years ago. Meanwhile, NBC also generated the most-watched election livestream with its Kornacki Cam, featuring data analyst Steve Kornacki. The stream attracted 29 million views across platforms, including 6.1 million on YouTube.
What The Numbers Show:
| Network | Viewership |
|---|---|
| NBC News | 6.52 million |
| ABC News | 4.91 million |
| CBS News | 2.63 million |
Cable news produced a much tighter race, with fewer than 50,000 viewers separating the three leading outlets.
| Network | Viewership |
|---|---|
| CNN | 3.93 million |
| MS NOW | 3.92 million |
| Fox News | 3.88 million |
What Remains Unclear: These figures represent Nielsen’s fast national ratings and don’t include out-of-home viewing or its big data component. Consequently, the cable rankings could change as Nielsen incorporates additional measurements. The combined 25.79 million viewers already exceed the 2022 midterms’ final six-network total of 25.43 million.
What It Means: NBC’s performance could mark the first time a broadcast network led federal election night coverage in total viewers since 2012. However, the preliminary results suggest the cable news competition remains exceptionally close.
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