Networks See Breaking News Bounce In July; Fox News Leads In Gains During Record Month
The assassination attempt on Donald Trump, the Republican National Convention and President Joe Biden’s exit from the presidential race gave major news networks a breaking news bounce in July.
Fox News’ average primetime audience was 3.45 million viewers, up a whopping 120% from the same period in 2023. MSNBC grew by 5% to 1.18 million, and CNN got a 60% bump to 856,000.
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In the adults 25-54 category, Fox News averaged 498,000 in primetime, up 236%; while CNN posted 206,000, up 98%; and MSNBC averaged 136,000, up 26%.
In total day, Fox News averaged 1.9 million, up 78%, while MSNBC posted 721,000, about the same as 2023, and CNN averaged 523,000, up 23%.
In the 25-54 demo, Fox News averaged 268,000, up 78%; CNN was at 111,000, up 42%; and MSNBC averaged 82,000, up 9%.
Fox News said that its viewership during the month set a record for July and topped even the broadcast networks, while being the only channel to grow its audience versus 2020 and 2016.
MSNBC said that it saw an uptick following Biden’s announcement and Kamala Harris’ emergence as the presumptive Democratic nominee. The network averaged 70% more primetime viewers last week than the previous three, to 1.7 million, and 60% more total day viewers, to 1 million.
CNN said that July was its best month of the year, and highest total day audience since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
Jesse Watters Primetime topped all regularly scheduled shows, averaging 4.41 million viewers, compared to Hannity with 4.3 million, The Five with 3.85 million, The Ingraham Angle with 3.31 million and Special Report with 2.91 million.
In the 25-54 demo, Hannity topped with an average of 657,000, followed by Jesse Watters Primetime with 590,000, Gutfeld! with 458,000, The Ingraham Angle with 423,000 and The Five with 396,000.
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