During the week of May 26 to June 1, the self-styled “most trusted name in news” averaged a paltry 374,000 primetime viewers, a number so low it was six times smaller than that of Fox News Channel, which pulled in 2.3 million during the same time slot. For context, Fox News isn’t just beating CNN — it’s obliterating them.
And it wasn’t just primetime where CNN faltered. Across the total day, CNN averaged just 308,000 viewers, while Fox News drew 1.5 million. In the critical 25-54 advertising demo, Fox once again dominated:
-
Primetime demo: Fox pulled in 240,000, while CNN limped along with just 61,000
-
Total day demo: Fox scored 175,000, CNN only 49,000
To put it bluntly, one Fox News show — The Five — drew more demo viewers (409,000) than CNN drew in total primetime viewership.
If that week wasn’t bad enough, May’s full monthly figures painted an equally grim picture:
Primetime (All of May)
-
Fox News: 2.46 million (+24%) / 262,000 in demo (+32%)
-
MSNBC: 877,000 (-24%) / 73,000 in demo (-34%)
-
CNN: 426,000 (-18%) / 76,000 in demo (-21%)
Total Day (All of May)
-
Fox News: 1.56 million (+21%) / 180,000 in demo (+22%)
-
MSNBC: 545,000 (-33%) / 49,000 in demo (-41%)
-
CNN: 353,000 (-25%) / 59,000 in demo (-27%)
These aren’t just bad numbers — they’re existential ones. CNN’s audience is shrinking across every metric that matters: raw viewership, advertising demo, year-over-year performance, and audience loyalty. Even MSNBC — which also took a hit — isn’t spiraling quite as fast.
CNN’s primetime revamp has been a flop. Rather than introducing new perspectives or innovative programming, they shuffled the same old faces into different time slots. It’s lipstick on a ratings corpse.
Add to that the collapse of cable viewership and the slow death of carriage fees (the built-in cable subsidies keeping legacy networks afloat), and you have a network that is burning through cash while bleeding relevance. If regulatory changes ever cut off Big Pharma ads — a key CNN revenue stream — the network may lose its last financial life support.
While CNN flounders, Fox News is not just surviving — it’s dominating. It continues to pull in the highest ratings not only in cable news but across all cable programming, even outperforming major broadcast networks like CBS and NBC during key times.
This isn’t just about politics. Studies have repeatedly shown that Fox’s audience is broader than the mainstream narrative suggests, with growing numbers of Democrats, independents, and women tuning in. Why? Because Fox — for all its critics — still knows how to deliver compelling, clear messaging and diverse opinion shows that offer more than just recycled talking points.
