A general downward trend continued for cable news consumption in 2022, with the left-leaning MSNBC and CNN networks particularly hard hit, according to the latest Nielsen Media Research ratings.
Despite 2022 being a newsworthy year, opening with the Jan. 6 hearings and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and moving forward with coverage of the economy and supply chain issues, the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the midterm elections and Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover, the top three cable news networks—Fox, MSNBC and CNN—saw a 14 percent drop collectively during prime time (eight to 11 p.m., Monday through Friday) as compared to 2021, Axios reported.
Fox News remained on top as the most-watched cable network for the seventh straight year, only losing one percent of its prime-time viewership. MSNBC and CNN lost 21 and 32 percent, respectively, Nielsen found.
According to Forbes, 2022 marked the “lowest-rated years in history” for both MSNBC and CNN.
In total day viewers during 2022, Nielsen determined that Fox averaged 1.4 million, a figure that exceeds those of MSNBC (with its 733,000) and CNN (with its 568,000) combined, The Hill reported. And during the prime-time slot, Fox outperformed with an average of 2.3 million to MSNBC’s 1.2 million and CNN’s 730,000.
Downward Trends
According to a 2021 Pew Research Fact Sheet, the downward trend in cable news viewership in recent years is due to comparing annual data to the unprecedented spike in 2020, “a year that included both a global pandemic and a U.S. Presidential election,” where “both evening and daytime cable news audiences increased for the three major cable news channels (CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC).”
In 2020, Pew found, Fox News saw a 61 percent increase in its prime-time audience from 1.92 million in 2019 to 3.08 million. Similarly, CNN saw an audience increase of 72 percent (from 1.05 million in 2019 to 1.8 million in 2020), with MSNBC’s viewership rising 28 percent (from 1.3 million to 1.6 million).
However, Fox New’s 2022 prime-time audience numbers (2.3 million) still surpass its pre-pandemic 2019 numbers. MSNBC’s current numbers at 1.2 million are roughly equal to its pre-pandemic numbers, while CNN’s lag far behind, only reaching 70 percent of what they were in 2019.
Fox News credits its current success to its programming. According to the platform, Fox News Channel “made up 92 of the top 100 cable news shows during 2022” and “nearly swept” the top ten spots with Fox’s “The Five” as the most popular cable news program with an average of 3.4 million viewers despite its airing outside the primetime hours that typically dominate viewership.
Fox took all the top nine spots, with MSNBC’s “Rachel Maddow Show” taking tenth. CNN’s most-watched program, “Anderson Cooper 360,” only reached number 23.