What are the most-watched news networks? In November 2023, Fox News was the most watched cable news network in the United States and continues to do well in terms of its primetime audience, with **** million primetime viewers in that period. Fox News viewers in the 25-54 demographic amounted to *** thousand, whilst MSNBC had just *** thousand. When looking at Fox News viewers compared to CNN, the overall average number of primetime viewers was notably different. CNN has been losing viewers in recent years, although during the coronavirus outbreak, tended to pull in a larger audience than usual. Which cable news channel has the most viewers in prime time? Performing well during the mid-evening prime time slot on cable television is the goal of any network that takes its ratings seriously.Cable news networks like Fox, CNN, and MSNBC are engaged in a monthly battle to hit the top spot during primetime and grab the highest cable news ratings during those precious evening hours. Fox News ratings during primetime are generally higher than its two direct competitors, and was the top channel for watching the State of the Union Address in 2020. What is prime time TV? Primetime television is the time at which the audience peaks, and in the United States usually takes place between 8pm and 11pm. TV networks show their most sought after or successful programs during this time, and this slot is where advertisers like to spend their money in order to maximize the number of viewers who will see their products. In fact, many of the most-watched news shows like Hannity or The Rachel Maddow Show which debate news coverage from a particular point of view, draw in massive audiences each month, ultimately contributing to the overall ratings of the network they belong to.

Cable TV news consumption is on the decline. Adults aged between 18 and 34 years old were the least likely to use cable TV networks as a source of news, with a survey held in the United States in August 2022 revealing that 45 percent never did so. Younger consumers preferred social media sites for keeping up to date, and whilst their older peers turned to cable news more frequently, network news was still a more popular daily news source.

Falling cable news ratings

Back in 2017, FOX News, the leading cable news network in the United States, had an average of almost 470 thousand viewers in the primetime demo. With the exception of 2020 where news consumption soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, ratings have fallen consecutively each year, and by 2022, FOX’s average viewer count sank to 341 thousand. CNN and MSNBC saw even greater drops in their audiences, with the latter seeing its ratings fall by more than 2.5 times between 2017 and 2022.

Why the drop in ratings?

Cable and satellite TV is no longer the norm: only adults aged 60 or above express a preference for traditional TV over video streaming services and apps, and among certain age groups the share who preferred the latter was over 70 percent. Indeed, a 2022 survey found that the majority of Gen Z, millennials, and Gen X did not have a cable subscription. The main reason for cutting the cord was price, with over a third of adults saying that cable was simply too expensive.

During a survey held in the U.S. in spring 2023, it was found that adults aged above 45 years were the most likely to say they never watched Fox News, with more than double the share of those aged 45 to 64 years or 65 years or above saying they never tuned into the news channel than adults aged 18 to 29 years. Similarly, ** percent of adults in the latter age bracket watched Fox News weekly, compared to only one percent of adults aged 65 or older.

During a survey held in the U.S. in spring 2023, ** percent of respondents stated they watched Fox News every day. Meanwhile, over ** percent said that they did not watch the channel at all, though Fox News remains the most watched cable news network in the United States.

The leading ad-supported cable network in the United States in 2024 ranked by number of viewers was FOX News, with about *** million viewers in the presented period. Ranking second and third respectively were ESPN and MSNBC, followed by TBS which averaged around ******* viewers.

In December 2024, the news website with the most monthly visits in the United States was nytimes.com, with a total of 463.07 million monthly visits in that month. In second place was cnn.com with close to 357 million visits, followed by foxnews.com with just over a quater of a million. Online news consumption in the U.S. Americans get their news in a variety of ways, but social media is an increasingly popular option. A survey on social media news consumption revealed that 55 percent of Twitter users regularly used the site for news, and Facebook and Reddit were also popular for news among their users. Interestingly though, social media is the least trusted news sources in the United States. News and trust Trust in news sources has become increasingly important to the American news consumer amidst the spread of fake news, and the public are more vocal about whether or not they have faith in a source to report news correctly. Ongoing discussions about the credibility, accuracy and bias of news networks, anchors, TV show hosts, and news media professionals mean that those looking to keep up to date tend to be more cautious than ever before. In general, news audiences are skeptical. In 2020, just nine percent of respondents to a survey investigating the perceived objectivity of the mass media reported having a great deal of trust in the media to report news fully, accurately, and fairly.

According to a survey held among adults in the United States in February 2022, ABC and CBS were considered to be the most credible news sources in the country, with 61 percent of respondents believing the organizations to be very or somewhat credible. Sources which fared less well were MSNBC, Fox News, National Public Radio, and HuffPost, with less than 50 percent of adults agreeing that they found these to be reliable news outlets. The credibility of all the news sources in the ranking was higher in 2022 than in the previous year, though the figures in 2021 were particularly low.

Trust and bias in news Finding trustworthy, impartial news sources can be difficult for audiences in a world where fake news is in constant circulation and bias in news is a growing concern. More than 50 percent of total respondents to a survey held in early 2020 believed that there was a fair amount or great deal of bias in the news sources they used most often. The same study found that close to 70 percent of respondents were more concerned with bias in news that other people may consume than with their own news source.

A report exploring trust in news found that radio, network news, and newspapers were the most trusted news sources in the United States, whereas social media was not considered reliable in this regard. The lack of trust in news on social media has yet to affect consumption – social networks are the most used source of news among many consumers, particularly younger generations. In fact, some news consumers are moving away from official news platforms altogether and getting their updates from influencers rather than journalists.

In 2024, CBS was the leading ad-supported television network in the United States, with an average viewership of **** million, surpassing the viewership number of NBC. The latter recorded **** people watching the TV channel. Spotlight on CBS CBS is among the oldest and most popular commercial broadcast television and radio networks in the United States. Founded in 1927, the company now operates as a subsidiary of Paramount, with all of its original programming available on the Paramount+ streaming platform. A closer look at the network's recent performance reveals that it ranked fourth among the leading television networks among U.S. adults in 2023. CBS reported an average of *** thousand viewers between the ages of 18 to 49 that year and was only outperformed by NBC, Fox, and ABC. So what are audiences watching? Popular television shows According to the latest data, NFL Sunday Night Football was the most watched TV program in the United States during the ********* season. The sports broadcast, which aired on NBC, scored a respective ***** million viewers during that period. The three most popular fictional programs to make it into the top five were "Yellowstone", "NCIS," and "FBI" broadcast on Paramount Network and CBS.

In a survey held in April 2023, 13 percent of Americans said that they found CNN to be a very trustworthy source of news and information. Opinions regarding the network’s trustworthiness varied, with 21 percent of respondents saying that they did not trust CNN at all.

CNN

CNN is a pay television channel founded in the 1980s, and is currently owned by AT&T. It is one of the most popular news networks in the U.S. and has spawned successful affiliate networks around the world. Survey responses to attitudes about the credibility of CNN found that 50 percent of all participating adults deemed CNN to be very or somewhat credible, though opinions differed among certain groups. The station is viewed by some as more liberal-leaning in terms of political spin, and as such political affiliation affected respondents' feelings about the channel. Age, educational background, ethnicity, and multiple other factors also influenced attitudes to CNN's credibility, as is the case with competing channels such as MSNBC and Fox News.

Fake news

The credibility of news sources is of growing importance to consumers as more and more news audiences are faced with fake news, which is an ongoing issue not only in the United States but also in other countries around the world. Fake news puts the public at risk of digesting deliberately untrue or inaccurate information about major happenings and events. News consumers are increasingly concerned about the spread and influence of fake news, so much so that the share of adults who would support government intervention in restricting false information grew by nine percent between 2018 and 2021.

In 2024, local television news was the most used offline news source in the United States, with 28 percent of respondents to a survey having watched local TV to get news in the last week. By contrast, just 14 percent used regional or local newspapers, and CNN and MSNBC were less popular than Fox News.