Six weeks after the 2020 election, MSNBC and CNN continue to face a steep decline in viewership, while Fox News has gained viewers. MSNBC’s prime-time ratings are down by more than half compared to pre-election numbers, with the network averaging about 600,000 viewers.
CNN’s viewership has dropped by 46%, averaging around 400,000 prime-time viewers. In contrast, Fox News has seen a 12% increase in its ratings since Election Day, drawing 2.7 million viewers.
While it’s not unusual for networks to lose viewers after an election, this decline is particularly sharp for MSNBC and CNN. Johanna Dunaway, a political science professor, told The Wall Street Journal that partisan viewers often disengage from the media when the opposing side celebrates an election victory.
Both Democrats and Republicans typically take a break from media consumption after their candidates lose. For example, after Joe Biden’s 2020 win, Fox News saw a 6% decline in viewership, and following Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection, Fox experienced a 13% drop.
In 2016, MSNBC and CNN also experienced temporary dips after Trump’s victory. However, when Trump took office in 2017, MSNBC saw a surge in viewership, driven by its left-leaning audience tuning in to watch the so-called “resistance” to the new administration.
MSNBC executives are optimistic that a similar trend will occur in 2025, hoping that viewers return after Trump’s inauguration. They expect that interest in the news cycle will rise as people react to Trump’s policies and actions while in office.
