TV News Ratings 2025 Second Quarter: Who Won & Who’s Lagging Behind?
The TV News ratings for the second quarter of 2025 are in, and ABC News continues to lead its competition on broadcast television, while Fox News remains dominant across cable.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, citing Nielsen ratings, ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir led the April-June period with an average of 7.37 million viewers each weeknight. This was a sizable lead over its competition, NBC Nightly News (5.79 million) and CBS Evening News (3.85 million).
World News Tonight also led the way in the key Adults 25-54 demographic with 1.01 million viewers. The show has maintained the lead in the 25-54 demo for every quarter since the January-March 2020 period.
Despite ABC News’ victory in the second quarter, the network’s numbers were down compared to the first three months of the year, as were those of both NBC and CBS. In the first quarter of 2025, ABC averaged 8.13 million viewers, NBC 6.6 million, and CBS 4.59 million.
NBC Nightly News has seen an uptick in viewers since Tom Llamas took over from veteran host Lester Holt. Per The Wrap, the show was up 7% year-over-year in the 25-54 demo compared to June 2024.
On cable, Fox News remained ahead of CNN and MSNBC in both total-day and primetime numbers, though its average was down slightly on the first quarter. Fox News averaged 1.63 million viewers for the day and 2.63 million in primetime for the second quarter, down from the 1.92 million (day) and 3.01 million (primetime) in the first quarter.
MSNBC increased ever so slightly in its total day average, from 593,000 in the first quarter to 596,000 in the second quarter. The network’s primetime audience remained relatively the same, at 1.01 million viewers, compared to 1.02 million in the first quarter.
CNN was down slightly in both total-day and primetime, with an average of 406,000 total-day viewers and 538,000 in primetime for the second quarter, compared to 428,000 and 558,000 in the first quarter.
In the key 25-54 demo, Fox News averaged 202,000 viewers for the day and 304,000 in primetime, down slightly on the first quarter (247,000 and 380,000, respectively). MSNBC averaged 57,000 viewers for the day (even with Q1) and 91,000 in primetime (down a tick from 96,000). CNN, meanwhile, averaged 71,000 viewers for the day (down from 79,000) and 105,000 in primetime (down from 121,000).
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Why does anyone want to watch the news? They must not have a life or a brain.
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I try not to watch very much news. But then family or a friend asks “ Hey did you hear about ?” And when you say No. They say Wow where in the world have You been ? So I try to catch at least the main topics just to stay in touch with the world. But you’re right, news can be and many times Is toxic. And doesn’t matter which network.
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The older you get, the more you care about what’s going on in the world. You realize you belong to this world and care about what’s going on. The younger you are, you’re busy raising children or going to college.
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Amen to that !! Sometimes the news can make you feel helpless though. As a Veteran the images of these people burning and spitting on Our National Flag while waving the flag of a foreign country Yet standing on American soil while doing all that Really upsets me !! If our country is So bad and their country is So great why don’t they go back to where they originated ? I know the answer because even with our problems the USA is Still the greatest nation on the face of the earth !! You’re right though we Do need to know what’s happening around us. I just have to work harder to control my emotions. Two of my friends, one my best friend, caskets were draped with our Ntl. Flag on my last deployment. I came Very close Twice myself. So those images mess with my psyche. Happy Fourth Of July to You and all Americans !!
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What are you 12?
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If you just watch leftist news or rightist news, you are not getting news, you are getting propaganda. I never watched Fox News and when I started, it was an awakening for me of what the media hides from you. It blew my mind that journalist would be so deceitful. But they are. You just cant trust them.
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