Undoubtedly, 2023 was a difficult year for the cable news industry, as alternative news sources continue to attract viewers and cord-cutting restricts linear access to American households.
As a result, the industry concluded the turbulent year with fewer viewers.
However, for the eighth consecutive year, Fox News maintained its position as the most-watched cable television network as it concluded the year on top.
The network secured the top six positions in the cable news industry, with The Five making history as the first non-prime time program to reach number one in both the crucial age demographic of 25 to 54 and in overall viewership.
Fox continued its 22-year reign as the cable news market leader in terms of total viewers, the cohort, and both total day and prime time viewers in 2023.
With excellent ratings for prime time hosts such as Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell, MSNBC consolidated its position as the second most-watched network on cable, trailing only Fox, and was the only network to experience year-over-year growth in total viewers.
Nicolle Wallace, Ari Melber, and MSNBC’s Morning Joe, in addition to early evening presenters Nicolle Wallace and Ari Melber, remain significant audience magnets for the network, which benefited from Trump-centric news cycles and the former president’s ongoing legal dramas.
With an average of seventy viewers in the fourth quarter of the year, MSNBC has the oldest audience among the major three cable news networks.
This is in contrast to its lowest-rated year in the demo since 1999. Fox has 69 average viewers, while CNN has 67, an increase from 60 in 2017.
According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC are currently available in 70 million U.S. households, a decrease from the 90 million that they occupied in 2016 as the cable industry continues to contract.
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