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In January 2021 Fox News Ratings Fell Behind CNN And MSNBC

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In primetime, Fox News first became the top-rated cable news network in January 2002, just months following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. For nearly two decades, regardless of the news cycle, Fox News remained the top-rated cable news for each and every month. Often times, doubling or tripling the audience of rival news networks CNN and MSNBC. In January 2021 that streak came to an end.

The ratings strength of Fox News came from their politically conservative opinion shows and personality of their primetime hosts. Whereas, on CNN, the ratings can fluctuate daily, based on late breaking news (i.e., earthquakes, plane crashes, hurricanes, etc.), that generate higher ratings, the ratings would drop on the (more often) slower news days. On the other hand, Fox News created personality driven appointment viewing. Each night, millions of viewers tuned in to The Factor with Bill O’Reilly and The Kelly File with Megyn Kelly among others, regardless of the news cycle. The programming strategy was similar to the personality driven and opinionated radio talk show hosts such as Rush Limbaugh, who generated millions of listeners each day.   

In other words, Fox News became a destination channel, which grew notably with the emergence of Donald Trump onto the political landscape. For calendar year 2020, in primetime, with Trump running for reelection, along with the pandemic and social justice rallies, Fox News set a cable network audience record in primetime with an average of 3.6 million viewers nightly, a year-over-year increase of 43%. The other major news networks also had record high primetime ratings; MSNBC ranked second among all cable with an average 2.14 million viewers, an increase of 23%. CNN finished third with an average 1.79 million viewers, with a year-over-year increase of 83%, the most of any network.

Even more impressive, with many entertainment programs on hiatus and live sports shut down, Fox News between Memorial Day and Labor Day was the top-rated cable and broadcast network averaging 3.5 million viewers. A first for any cable network.

The most popular program on Fox News has been Hannity (M-F 9-10 p.m. ET), in 2020 it was the top-rated cable news show for the fourth consecutive year, averaging 4.38 million viewers. Tucker Carlson Tonight (M-F 8-9 p.m. ET) ranked second averaging 4.36 million viewers. The Ingraham Angle (M-F 10-11 p.m. ET) finished fourth (behind The Five also on Fox News) among all cable news shows averaging 3.53 million viewers.  

Fox News has been the top-rated cable network in primetime since July 2016, when, not coincidentally, Donald Trump became the Republican Presidential candidate. December 2020, marked the 54th consecutive month of being cable’s top-rated network. The streak ended the following month. In addition, the streak as the most watched cable news network also ended. In January 2021, CNN was the top-rated cable news network and cable network overall in primetime. MSNBC also averaged more viewers in January 2021 than Fox News. The last time Fox News ranked third among cable news networks in primetime for an entire month was September 1999.

Source: Nielsen, M-Sun 8p.m.-11 p.m.; Persons 2+, Live + Same day

Furthermore, in January 2021, for the total day (M-Sun 6 a.m to 6 a.m.), Fox News with an average audience of 1.3 million viewers, lagged behind CNN with 1.9 million viewers and MSNBC at 1.6 million viewers. The last time Fox News ranked third in total day viewers for a full month was April 2020.

On the two most newsworthy days of January 2021, the audience of Fox News fell behind their cable news rivals. On the day of the insurrection of the U.S. Capitol, January 6, 2021, CNN led all cable news networks averaging 5.9 million viewers (the networks most watched day ever), MSNBC averaged 4.5 million viewers. Fox News averaged 3.4 million viewers. Fox News finished third in audience on the following two days as well.

On Inauguration Day (January 20), Fox News averaged 2.2 million viewers for its daytime coverage (11 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET) and 2.7 million for President Joe Biden’s address. Four years earlier, when then President Donald Trump was inaugurated, Fox News averaged 8.8 million viewers for the day and 11.8 million for the inaugural address. By comparison, CNN’s five-hour daytime coverage of the Biden inauguration averaged 7.9 million viewers and MSNBC averaged 5.3 million viewers. During Biden’s inauguration speech CNN averaged 10 million viewers and MSNBC 6.5 million.

Besides the relentless news cycle, another reason for the decline in the audience of Fox News was Donald Trump. On Election night Fox News (correctly) declared Biden had won Arizona, ahead of other news organizations, angering Donald Trump. Throughout his Presidency Trump had supported Fox News on Twitter. After Election Day however, Trump urged his Twitter followers to watch right-wing cable rivals Newsmax or OAN instead of Fox News. After an initial ratings surge, the audience for Newsmax has not increased substantially since Election Day (OAN is not measured by Nielsen).

Conversely, CNN has benefited from a constant stream of late breaking news which has always been its strength. Since November this includes a drawn-out election results, lawsuits on the election results, the Georgia Senate runoffs, the insurrection, the second impeachment of Donald Trump, the inauguration President Biden incoming President, the outgoing President and the ongoing pandemic. Since Election Day 2020, CNN has registered six of its ten largest audiences in its 40-year history. MSNBC has also benefited from the same relentless news cycle. In January, The Rachel Maddow Show (M-F 9-10 p.m. ET), was the top-rated cable news program averaging a record high average audience of 4.3 million despite competing head-to-head with Hannity

Fox News is making some lineup changes, the network has replaced Martha MacCallum’s program The Story at 7 p.m., with a fourth hour of opinion shows that is more compatible with its higher rated primetime lineup. Fox News also made program changes with its daytime lineup effective in mid-January including moving MacCallum to 3 p.m.  

Moving into 2021 and post-election, there are questions for each network. Can CNN sustain its ratings as the news cycle eventually slows down? Also, what is the future of CNN President Jeff Zucker, rumored to be stepping down? Will MSNBC, with a new network President Rashida Jones, be able to sustain its audience without Donald Trump in the White House? Can Fox News return to ratings dominance as the Trump news cycle slows down and his permanent suspension from Twitter? Will Fox News continue to change their programming lineup as they face competition from other right-wing networks? 

For the last week in January, Fox News returned as the top-rated news network in primetime averaging 2.6 million viewers, as CNN and MSNBC posted audience declines post inauguration, nonetheless the ratings as top rated news network is the most competitive in nearly two decades. After years of ratings stability, cable news viewing can very well be changing.

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