Breaking News | December 12, 2023
Adds More Viewers Than Any Other Television Network While FOX News and CNN Deliver Double-Digit Declines
Largest Advantage Over CNN in MSNBC’s 27-Year History
Slashes FOX News’ Lead by 60% in A25-54 and by 40% in Total Viewers Narrowing Total Day and Primetime Gap Year Over Year
“Morning Joe” #1 Cable Morning Show in NY and DC, Dominates CNN for 8 Straight Years in A25-54 and 14 Straight Years in Total Viewers
“The Rachel Maddow Show” #1 Cable News Program in Prime, Beats CNN for 8th Consecutive Year in A25-54 and 14th Consecutive Year in Total Viewers
#1 TV Destination for Breaking News Coverage of Trump’s Indictments
MSNBC Digital Ranks as #1 Political News Video Destination
#1 Cable Destination Among Black and Asian Viewers
Prime Tops CNN in A25-54 for 1st Time in 4 Years, Beats CNN in Total Viewers for 7 Straight Years
Dayside Tops CNN in Total Viewers for 1st Time in 4 Years
“Deadline: White House,” “The Beat with Ari Melber,” “All In with Chris Hayes,” “Alex Wagner Tonight” “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell,” and “The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle” Top CNN in A25-54 and Total Viewers
Most Loyal, Engaged Weekday Audience in All of TV; Viewers Spend Twice as Much Time Watching MSNBC as CNN
MSNBC Viewership on Peacock Triples Year Over Year, with Launch of Live “Morning Joe”
MSNBC Digital Expected to See Double-Digit Year-Over-Year Growth in 2023
MSNBC Continues to Surpass CNN and FOX News on YouTube
(NEW YORK – Dec. 12, 2023) – MSNBC dominated CNN in major dayparts in 2023, even doubling CNN in total viewership across mornings and primetime for the year. MSNBC added more viewers in total day than any other television network while FOX News and CNN delivered double-digit declines. MSNBC was the #1 television destination for breaking news and analysis during coverage of former President Donald Trump’s indictment and arraignment across multiple jurisdictions. Additionally, MSNBC beat CNN on election day for the 3rd straight year, with its largest election day advantage ever.
MSNBC’s significant wins this year further slashed the viewership gap between CNN and FOX News. In 2023, MSNBC averaged 62% more viewers than CNN, MSNBC’s largest advantage over CNN in MSNBC’s 27-year history. In total day and prime, MSNBC narrowed the gap with FOX News by nearly 60% in A25-54 and 40% among total viewers. On weekday mornings during “Morning Joe,” MSNBC cut FOX News’ lead by nearly 70% in A25-54 and 60% among total viewers.
MSNBC total day (M-Su 6am-6am) ranked #2 among cable networks for the 6th year in a row (ahead of #3 ESPN, #4 CNN and #5 Hallmark) and topped CNN for the 7th straight year. In total day, MSNBC drew 783K total viewers (vs. CNN’s 482K) and was up +7% year over year (vs. CNN’s -15% and FOX News’ -18%). In A25-54, MSNBC drew 87K viewers in total day, up +5% year over year (vs. CNN’s -22% and FOX News’ -34%).
MSNBC’s perspective and analysis programming during prime (M-F 8pm-11pm) dominated CNN in A25-54 for the 1st time in four years (since 2019). In total viewers, prime (M-F 8pm-11pm and M-Su 8-11pm) topped CNN for the 7th straight year. Weekday prime drew 1.5M total viewers (vs. CNN’s 648K), even with a year ago whereas CNN and FOX News were down double digits (vs. CNN’s -18% and FOX News’ -19%). In A25-54, prime drew 156K viewers (vs. CNN’s 142k). MSNBC’s primetime lineup continues to draw twice as many Independents and Republicans as CNN’s, according to data from Nielsen MRI Fusion.
“The Rachel Maddow Show” (Mondays 9pm) is the year’s #1 primetime cable news program. “Maddow” averaged 2.4M total viewers, beating CNN (569K) for the 14th year in a row. “Maddow” topped CNN in A25-54 for the 8th year in a row (241K vs. 128K). Rachel Maddow’s news-making interviews propelled the program to deliver its three most-watched telecasts in 2023: former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on 8/14 was #1 across all of TV with 3.9M viewers; Cassidy Hutchinson on 9/25 with 3.3M viewers; former Rep. Liz Cheney on 12/4 with 3.1M viewers. “Maddow” was the most “DVR’d” show in cable news (1M within seven days of air date), with more time-shifted viewers than FOX News’ The Five (791K), Gutfeld! (768K), , and Jesse Watters Primetime (542K). On Monday nights, more Independents tune to MSNBC than to FOX News or CNN, according to data from Nielsen MRI Fusion.
In dayside (M-F 10am-4pm), “MSNBC Reports” beat CNN in total viewers for the 1st time since 2019. MSNBC averaged 788K total viewers in dayside (vs. CNN’s 641K), up +5% year over year (vs. CNN’s -15% and FOX News’ -14%). In A25-54, MSNBC drew 88K viewers in dayside, up +6% year over year (vs. CNN’s -24% and FOX News’ -29%). Through December, “MSNBC Reports” has topped CNN’s dayside programming for 15 straight months.
“Morning Joe” (M-F 6am-10am) was the #1 cable morning program in New York and Washington D.C. in 2023. Across the nation, “Morning Joe” was #2 in all of cable for the 7th straight year (ahead of #3 CNN, #4 ESPN and #5 TV Land Classic). “Morning Joe” has dominated CNN in the key A25-54 demographic for 8 straight years and in total viewers for 14 straight years. The program drew 973K total viewers (vs. CNN’s 405K) and was up +14% year over year (vs. CNN’s -12% and FOX News’ -17%). In A25-54, “Morning Joe” drew 113K viewers (vs. CNN’s 81K), up +14% year over year (vs. CNN’s -16% and FOX News’ -34%). “Morning Joe” was also #1 in its time slot among Black viewers.
On weekends (Sa-Su 6am-6am), MSNBC viewership increased by +8% compared to 2022, while FOX News (-18%) and CNN (-15%) experienced double digit declines.
MSNBC has the most loyal and engaged weekday audience in all of television. According to Nielsen data for the year, the average MSNBC viewer watched the network for an average of 501 minutes from Monday to Friday, more than doubling the CNN viewer average (239 minutes) and topping FOX News (482 minutes).
MSNBC’s programming attracts the most diverse cable audience in America. In 2023, MSNBC was the #1 network across all of cable among Black viewers for the 6th consecutive year and in Asian viewers. Among Hispanic viewers, MSNBC was #1 across cable news and #2 across all of cable (behind ESPN). MSNBC is home to the Top 20 highest-rated cable news programs among Black Americans. MSNBC’s “PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton” had the highest concentration of Black viewers (41%) of any program on cable news.
For the 1st time in four years (since 2019), every MSNBC weekday program beat CNN head to head in total viewers. In 2023, the following programs extended MSNBC’s winning streaks over CNN in both total viewers and A25-54 during their respective time slots:
- “Morning Joe” from 6am-10am: 14th year in total viewers, 8th year in A25-54
- “Deadline: White House” from 4pm-6pm: 7th year in total viewers, 1st yearly win in A25-54 since 2012
- “The Beat with Ari Melber” at 6pm: 7th year in total viewers, 1st yearly win in A25-54 since 2013
- “All In with Chris Hayes” at 8pm: 7th year in total viewers, 1st yearly win in A25-54 since 2019
- “The Rachel Maddow Show” at 9pm: 14th year in total viewers, 8th year in A25-54
- “Alex Wagner Tonight” at 9pm (launched Aug. 2022): 2nd year in total viewers, 1st yearly win in A25-54
- “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” at 10pm: 14th year in total viewers, 1st yearly win in A25-54 since 2019
- “The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle” at 11pm: 7th year in total viewers, 1st yearly win in A25-54 since 2019
MSNBC Digital is pacing to see double-digit year-over-year growth with +19% more monthly unique visitors in 2023 through October when compared to the same months in 2022. MSNBC has been among the top five political news destinations based on audience every month this year, ranking among the top three in September and October 2023. MSNBC Digital is also pacing to see more than 150 million monthly video views in 2023 for the second consecutive year and continues to rank as the top political news destination for video consumption.
MSNBC leads multiple news brands on younger emerging platforms, such as YouTube and TikTok. On YouTube, MSNBC has beaten both CNN and FOX News in video views for five of the last six months. Overall, MSNBC saw more than 2 billion video views on YouTube in 2023, surpassing this level for the third time in the last four years. MSNBC also beat The New York Times and the Washington Post on TikTok, delivering more than 250 million video views for the second consecutive year. MSNBC saw double-digit year-over-year growth in subscribers on both platforms.
MSNBC had its best year ever on Peacock with 3x more hours viewed than its 2022 performance. The “Morning Joe” channel continued to be a driver of growth with +172% more hours viewed in November compared to its first full month after launch.
MSNBC podcasts had one of their top three years ever with more than 180 million total downloads. MSNBC originals had their second straight record year thanks to the strong performance of “Rachel Maddow Presents: Déjà News” and “Prosecuting Donald Trump” among others.
Digital Source: Comscore Media Metrix® , April 2021 – October 2023, U.S. & Comscore Video Metrix®, April 2021 – October 2023, U.S. desktop internet population 2+ and mobile internet population 13+ years old. Year-over-year comparison is looking at January – October 2023 versus January – October 2022. ListenFirst for YouTube and TikTok video views, January – November 2023. DAVD for Peacock, January – November 2023. Simplecast for podcasts, January – November 2023.
Source: Nielsen. Unless indicated, points are based on Live + Same Day average audience, Persons 2+, Monday-Sunday 6A-6A, 2023 total day and daypart points based on data for 12/26/22-12/3/23; program points based on data for 12/26/22-12/3/23. MSNBC share = MSNBC viewership dived by the sum of MSNBC and CNN viewership. “Morning Joe” consecutive year win streak includes Day 1-3 time-shifted viewing. Program rank stories exclude programs not airing for the majority of the year and non-regularly scheduled programming.
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MSNBC Press Contacts:
Lorie Acio
Hollie Tracz
Natalie Munio
