Fox News Tops April Ratings; CNN And MSNBC See Some Boost From Trump Trial, But It’s Hardly A Blockbuster

Ted Johnson
·2 min read
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Fox News continued its dominance in the April ratings, while network coverage of Donald Trump’s hush money trial has failed to produce blockbuster viewership.

In fact, all the major cable news networks saw a drop off in the key 25-54 demo versus a year ago.

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Working against the networks is the fact that the television coverage of the Trump trial is prohibited in the courtroom, leaving it to correspondents to check in with regular reports along with an assortment of legal analysts. CNN and MSNBC have added scrolls on the side of their screens with real time text updates from the courthouse.

In primetime, Fox News topped with an average of 1.98 million viewers, down 5% versus 2023, compared to MSNBC with 1.25 million, down 5%, and CNN with 624,000, up 6%. In the 25-54 demo, Fox News averaged 219,000, down 9%, compared to MSNBC with 114,000, down 3%, and CNN with 113,000, down 16%.

In total day, Fox News averaged 1.27 million, down 2%, compared to MSNBC with 864,000, up 5%, and CNN with 505,000, up 5%. In the 25-54 demo, Fox News averaged 156,000, down 3%, compared to CNN with 88,000, down 13%, and MSNBC with 88,000, down 14%.

Fox News’ The Five was the most watched show, averaging 3.03 million viewers, followed by Jesse Watters Primetime with 2.57 million, Hannity with 2.22 million, Gutfeld! with 2.08 million and Special Report with 2.06 million.

In the 25-54 demo, Gutfeld! topped with an average of 295,000, followed by The Five with 262,000, Jesse Watters Primetime with 244,000, Hannity with 240,000 and The Ingraham Angle with 198,000.

The rankings do not include the once-a-week The Rachel Maddow Show, which has averaged 2.5 million viewers this year and has topped its time slot.

In the first week of the Trump trial, starting with opening arguments, Fox News averaged 1.93 million in primetime, compared to 1.44 million for MSNBC and 772,000 for CNN. In total day, Fox News averaged 1.27 million, compared to 980,000 for MSNBC and 582,000 for CNN.

The viewership figures are from Nielsen via Fox News, MSNBC and CNN.

CNN topped with its coverage of the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday night, averaging 1.37 million, compared to 1.13 million for Fox News and 979,000 for MSNBC. In the 25-54 demo, CNN averaged 185,000, compared to 111,000 for Fox News and 81,000 for MSNBC.

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