How are cable news viewers reacting to what is available on the news/commentary venues, like CNN, Fox and MS NOW (formerly MSNBC)?
Here’s your answer, excerpted from Brian Burns’ article for the Tampa Free Press, via msn.com:
November 2025 television ratings reveal a widening gap in the cable news landscape, with FOX News Channel (FNC) securing significant leads over broadcast and cable competitors, while rival networks dipped to viewership levels not seen since the late 1990s.
According to Nielsen Big Data + Panel figures released this week, FNC finished November as the second-highest-rated network across all of television for the year-to-date in weekday primetime. The network averaged 3.19 million viewers in that slot since January, placing it ahead of major broadcast networks CBS (3.19 million) and NBC (3.14 million).
While FNC maintained its lead, competitors faced historical deficits. MS Now recorded its lowest November total day viewership since 2015, averaging 599,000 viewers. In the key 25-54 demographic, the network dropped to 55,000 viewers, a figure not seen since 1997. CNN faced similar headwinds, posting its lowest November total day viewership since 2013 (429,000) and its lowest numbers in the 25-54 demographic (70,000) since 1997.
Individual program ratings highlighted the shift away from broadcast network dominance in specific time slots. The Five, airing at 5 PM ET, ranked as the number one show on television for the month with 3.63 million viewers, outpacing NBC’s Law and Order: SVU and ABC’s 9-1-1: Nashville.
Hmmmmm, did I read that correctly? Is viewership for Fox News Channel (FNC) miles and miles ahead of MS NOW and CNN combined? Is FNC seriously competitive – even winning the competition – versus most entertainment networks as well?
Call me a dreamer, but I have to believe this is because the network is broadcasting material (clearly rightward, but with enough input from the left to provide more than just the one side) that people think of as more worthwhile/interesting/viewable than what is offered by the others.
So why has this happened? Why has FNC jumped so far out in front of its cable news alternatives?
Is this because FNC has superior programming? Or is it just because FNC has so much less competition on the right than MS NOW and CNN have on the other side of the political spectrum?
And what if newly-installed CBS News Editor-In Chief Bari Weiss transforms the network into a more neutral source of news information – i.e. less Democrat/left than ABC or NBC? Will that cut into FNC’s margin? And if it does, will it caus ABC and NBC to reconsider the way they present news as well?
These are all questions to be determined in the future. But, as for the present, what we know for a fact is that Fox News Channel is a dominant force in cable news.
Stay tuned.
