MSNBC TOPS CNN FOR 18TH STRAIGHT QUARTER
“The Briefing with Jen Psaki” Nearly Doubles CNN Viewership, Up Double-Digits in the Demo Month Over Month; “The Weeknight” Posts Double-Digit Month Over Month Growth Across Both Demos
“Morning Joe” Tops CNN Across Every Demo for Year to Date, Quarter and Month; Most-Watched Morning News Show in the Nation’s Capital for Four Straight Months
“The Weekend” and “The Weekend: Primetime” See Double-Digit Across-the-Board Growth Since Launch
MSNBC Marks Best Quarter Ever on YouTube; #1 “The Best People” Original Podcast by Nicolle Wallace Catapults MSNBC Audio to Strongest Month Since the Election
(New York – July 1, 2025) — Driven by a deluge of foreign and domestic breaking news stories throughout the second quarter of 2025, MSNBC averaged more total viewers than CNN for the 18th consecutive quarter. In the second quarter of 2025, MSNBC was the only cable news network to not experience quarter-over-quarter viewership declines (CNN, -5%; Fox News, -15%), and finished the quarter as the #2 cable television network in total day, again topping CNN and ESPN. MSNBC was also the most-watched cable network in Washington, D.C.
Additionally, six months into 2025, MSNBC continues to see double-digit viewership growth compared to pre-inauguration norms in mornings (18%), dayside (19%), primetime (80%), weekends (39%), and total day (38%).
Despite lower viewership industry-wide during the travel-dominant summer months, MSNBC’s audience remained glued to MSNBC’s coverage during a quarter of breaking news and key political news stories. The average MSNBC viewer spent more than eight hours per week watching in the second quarter, up from the prior quarter and nearly double the average for CNN viewers (four hours).
In 2025 to date (January through June), MSNBC is averaging 110% more primetime viewers and 88% more total day viewers than during the first six months of 2015, despite a significant decline in the number of pay TV households (-34%). CNN total day viewership, on the other hand, decreased by -7% from 2015 to 2025.
Weekday Prime Notches 37th Quarterly Win Over CNN; “The Briefing with Jen Psaki” Nearly Doubles CNN’s Total Audience in June; “The Weeknight” Posts Double-Digit Month Over Month Growth Across Both Demos
In the second quarter of 2025, MSNBC marked its 37th consecutive quarterly win over CNN in weekday primetime (Monday through Friday, 8 to 11 p.m.), more than doubling CNN’s viewership (1.24 million vs. 559,000).
In June, eight weeks after the show first debuted, “The Weeknight” (Monday through Friday, 7 p.m.) had double-digit month-over-month growth among total viewers (12%) and the A25-54 demo (35%). “The Weeknight” also topped CNN among total viewers in June in its timeslot (861,000 vs. 644,000)
The newly launched “The Briefing with Jen Psaki” (Tuesday through Friday, 9 p.m.) nearly doubled CNN’s total viewership in June (1.05 million vs. 591,000) and is up 17% among the key A25-54 demo compared to May.
MSNBC’s Perspective and Analysis programming (4 p.m. to 12 a.m.) also beat CNN for the 34th consecutive quarter among total viewers (1.07 million vs. 544,000). “The Rachel Maddow Show” continues to average more than 2.1 million viewers each Monday.
“Morning Joe” Tops CNN Across Every Demo for Year to Date, Quarter and Month of June; “Way Too Early” Tops CNN For Fifth Consecutive Month
In the second quarter of 2025, “Morning Joe” more than doubled CNN’s morning audience (6 to 10 a.m.), securing its 41st consecutive quarterly win over CNN among total viewers (697,000 vs. 336,000) and topped CNN in the A25-54 demo (62,000 vs. 56,000) for the 13th consecutive quarter. “Morning Joe” also topped CNN among total viewers and A25-54 for the month of June and the first half of 2025.
“Way Too Early” continues to see growth, with a 9% increase in viewership since launching with MSNBC’s Ali Vitali at the helm. The program also topped CNN among total viewers for the 39th consecutive month.
MSNBC was also the most-watched cable network in Washington, D.C. across weekday mornings in the second quarter of 2025, in June, and the first half of 2025.
More Viewers Turn to “MSNBC Reports” During Dayside Coverage Than CNN for Both the Quarter and in June
MSNBC averaged more total viewers during dayside coverage (Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) than CNN, both in the second quarter of 2025 (541,000 vs. 537,000) and for the month of June (534,000 vs. 531,000).
MSNBC’s Newly Relaunched Weekend Lineup Shows Year-Over-Year and Month-Over-Month Growth; “The Weekend” and “The Weekend: Primetime” See Double-Digit Growth Since Launch
MSNBC’s weekend programming had double-digit month-over-month growth among both total viewers (32%, 527,000 vs. 398,000) and A25-54 (39%, 53,000 vs. 38,000).
MSNBC’s recently-launched weekend morning and evening programming, “The Weekend” (Saturday and Sunday, 7 to 10 a.m.), and “The Weekend: Primetime” (Saturday and Sunday, 6 to 9 p.m.) also posted viewership gains in June 2025.
“The Weekend” gained 15% among total viewers (450,000 vs. 391,000) from its debut month of May, marking 18 consecutive monthly wins for MSNBC over CNN in the time period. “The Weekend” also gained 27% viewers in the A25-54 demo (47,000 vs. 37,000) from May.
In the second quarter of 2025, MSNBC earned its sixth consecutive quarterly total viewer win over CNN in the Saturday-to-Sunday, 7 to 10 a.m. timeslot (443,000 vs. 404,000).
“The Weekend: Primetime” delivered double-digit growth in June relative to its launch month, both among total viewers (543,000 vs. 349,000) and A25-54 (51,000 vs. 32,000). In June, the program also improved MSNBC’s year-ago time period average among both total viewers (27%) and A25-54 (38%).
In its recently expanded timeslot, “Velshi” delivered double-digit month-over-month growth among total viewers (10%) and adults 25-54 (13%).
MSNBC Sees Best Quarter in History on YouTube; More Than One Billion Views on TikTok, a 439% Year-Over-Year Increase
MSNBC had its best quarter ever on YouTube, with more than one billion video views, up 11% from the prior quarter and 51% from a year ago. MSNBC had more than double the views on YouTube compared to the broadcast news networks, with ABC News (374 million) and NBC News (371 million), and over six times the views on YouTube compared to CBS News (173 million). Plus, MSNBC had 50% more YouTube views than CNN (665 million).
Lawrence O’Donnell continued to be a standout on YouTube this quarter, with top-performing videos focused on his takes on Musk live-tweets to Trump, with 5.6 million views; Elon Musk turning on Trump over tariffs, with 5.4 million views; and Canada’s PM on Trump, with 4.8 million views.
On TikTok, MSNBC had more than one billion video views this quarter, up 439% year-over-year. Some key top-performing videos on the platform include Trump’s ban on travel from 12 countries, with 21 million views; Trump loyalists Adin Ross, Dave Portnoy, and Ben Shapiro now speaking out against Trump, with 20 million views; and California Gov. Gavin Newsom calling out Congress, with 15 million views.
MSNBC Digital also ranked number #1 in the competitive set for total minutes, a position held for 50 consecutive months, with 700 million minutes, and saw 26.7 million unique visitors in May 2025. Quickly becoming an online destination for op-eds and think pieces, this quarter MSNBC Digital featured top writes from Rep. Ro Khanna, Rep. Eric Swalwell, Rep. Justin J. Pearson, Rep. Troy Carter and Rep. Mark Takano, among others.
MSNBC Podcast Downloads Reach Highest Levels in Nine Months, Grow Nearly 40% Month Over Month
In the second quarter of 2025, MSNBC’s audio portfolio increased downloads for a second straight quarter, growing by double-digits versus the first quarter of 2025 to reach more than 38 million downloads.
In June, MSNBC’s audio portfolio had its strongest month since September 2024, growing nearly 40% month-over-month to reach 14.4 million downloads with the launch of the new MSNBC Original podcast, “The Best People with Nicolle Wallace.”
“The Best People with Nicolle Wallace” premiered at #1 on Apple Podcasts charts, with four million downloads in June, a ranking it held for more than two weeks since the podcast’s launch. “The Best People,” which features in-depth conversations between Nicolle Wallace and guests including Jason Bateman, Rachel Maddow, Sarah Jessica Parker and others, ranks as the strongest MSNBC Original podcast launch in more than two years. In addition, “The Best People” has over two million views on YouTube and is currently the strongest MSNBC YouTube podcast on record. This follows Chris Hayes’ long-standing podcast, “Why Is This Happening?”, which debuted on YouTube in April.
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TV Source: Nielsen, Panel Only, Live+SD, Persons 2+ and Adults 25-54. Total Day = M-Su 6 a.m. to 6 a.m., Primetime= M-F 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. 2Q25: 3/31/25-6/29/25. June 2025: 5/26/25-6/28/25. 2025 to-date: 12/30/24-6/29/2025. 2015 to-date: 12/29/14-6/28/15. Time period wins based on regularly-scheduled cable news programming. All stats for the new administration growth vs. pre-inauguration norms is based on 1/20/25-6/29/25 (i.e., since inauguration day) vs. 11/11/24-1/19/25 (between election week and inauguration week). Nielsen, NPower, Reach & Frequency, M-Su 6 a.m.-6 a.m., 6-min viewing qualifier.. Local Points: NPower, Ratings Analysis Time Period Report, LPM = Washington, D.C., 3/31/25-6/29/25;P2+, M-Su 6a-6a, M-F 6a-10a. The Rachel Maddow Show, Mondays 9 p.m., 5/5/25-6/23/25, Live + 3 days DVR Playback. The Weekend and The Weekend: Primetime based on respective daypart data. Velshi growth based on program level data.
Digital Source: Comscore Media Metrix, May 2025. U.S. desktop 2+ and mobile 13+ internet population. Unique visitors and total minutes. YouTube data based on YouTube Studio Analytics, April 1, 2025 – June 30, 2025. YouTube video views. TikTok data based on ListenFirst, April 1, 2025 – June 30, 2025. TikTok video views. Audio data from Simplecast.
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