‘Morning Joe’ & CNN Get Ratings Boost, Plus Cable News’ Top Shows Revealed
What To Know
- CNN and MS NOW both saw significant ratings increases in April, with CNN achieving its best primetime performance in two years.
- Fox News continued its dominance, delivering its third-most-watched April ever.
- NewsNation posted record primetime numbers, up 170% year-over-year.
The cable news ratings for April showed gains across the board, with CNN delivering its best primetime performance in two years and MS NOW’s Morning Joe amassing its largest audience since fall 2024.
According to Mediaite, citing Nielsen data, CNN averaged just under 1 million total viewers in primetime, up significantly from just under 600,000 in the same period in 2025. The network also averaged 181,000 viewers in the coveted Adults 25-54 demographic, up 48 percent on last year.
CNN’s weekend numbers were also strong across primetime, with an average of 910,000 total viewers and 157,000 demo viewers.
MS NOW also saw gains, averaging 1.5 million total viewers and 160,000 key demo viewers in weekday primetime. This was up 20 percent in total viewers and up 40 percent in the demo compared to the same period last year.
The Rachel Maddow Show continued to be MS NOW’s big winner, averaging 2.4 million total viewers and 278,000 demo viewers for the month of April. This marked the show’s largest audience since the fall of 2024.
Morning Joe also delivered its biggest numbers since the 2024 presidential election. The Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski-hosted morning program averaged 852,000 total viewers and 94,000 demo viewers for the month.
Meanwhile, NewsNation posted its strongest primetime numbers in the network’s history, averaging 192,000 total viewers and 27,000 demo viewers, up 170% year-over-year.
However, Fox News continued to dominate its competition, delivering its third-most-watched April in history. In primetime, the network averaged 2.9 million total viewers and 284,000 demo viewers across Monday through Sunday.
The Five maintained its top spot as the most-watched show, averaging 3.8 million total viewers. Jesse Watters Primetime averaged 3.6 million, Hannity averaged 3.2 million, Gutfeld! brought in 3 million, and Special Report with Bret Baier amassed around 3 million. All five shows took up the top five spots for most-watched on cable news in April.
Conversation10 Comments
Please read the TV Insider Community Guidelines.
Register or sign in to join the conversation.
-
G
I only watch FOX news once in a while to hear the lies!!
-
G
Fox News.A visual abomination
-
K
I think that's being too kind.
-
-
G
If you cannot recognize at least 3 positive actions out of all the actions Trump has taken, your hatred shines through. Your credibility is lost. No tax on tips, no taxes on social security, investment (Trump) accounts for newborns....
-
J
Fox is not news, it’s entertainment so the rating comparison is flawed. Fox should be compared with the ratings of TMZ or Comedy Central for accuracy. They’’d still be on top.
-
O
So Fox dominates. Funny how the left likes to report what they believe is good news and skip when it is the opposite.
-
T
Two for the show, Trump will be impeached and will get back to a new.
-
B
Well folks like entertainment rather than the news. It is well documented that Fox is NOT News.
Per their own court testimony, the are not a News station but are Entertainment. Great entertainment
if you don't really want the actual facts.
-
C
Neither is MSNOW! The entertainment portion of the FOX NEWS was the evening shows. Just like the shows on MSNOW. They are all talk and no news, just opinion from no nothings!
-
G
You misspelled "know".....
-
-
-
Watchlist Easy access to only the shows you care about — all in one simple place
Alerts Only important notifications — when a show is returning, when it becomes available to stream, and more.
Special Offers Exclusive products we release related to your favorite shows and streaming services