The May ratings for cable news networks MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News are in, with the former two seeing continued declines and the latter continuing to show impressive growth.
In primetime programming for the month of May 2025, Fox News was up 23% with an average of 2.46 million viewers. Meanwhile, MSNBC had an average 877,000 viewers, which was down 24%, and CNN raked in an average 426,000, down 18%. Total day programming saw Fox News at an average of 1.56 million viewers (up 21%), MSNBC down 33% with an average of 545,000 viewers, and CNN down 24% with 353,000 average viewers.
With 2024 being an election year and generally bringing more viewers to cable news shows, the post-election decline is not surprising. But seeing a double-digit drop on MSNBC and CNN is likely concerning for the networks.
In the coveted 25-54 demo, Fox News averaged 262,000 viewers in primetime, which was up 32%, while CNN averaged 76,000 (down 21%), and MSNBC averaged 73,000 (down 34%). For total day in that demo, Fox News was up 22% with 180,000 average viewers, but CNN was down 27% with 59,000 average viewers, and MSNBC averaged 49,000 viewers (down 41%)
Overall, the most-viewed cable news show of the month was The Five on Fox News, which brought in an average of 3.77 million viewers. Fox News’ Jesse Watters Primetime followed close behind with 3.23 million, along with some of the network’s other standouts, Gutfield! (2.92 million), Special Report With Brett Baier (2.81 million), and Hannity (2.73 million).
Over at MSNBC, the top-rated show was The Rachel Maddow Show, which brought in an average of 1.89 million viewers. Host Rachel Maddow ended her post-inauguration nightly broadcast and returned to just one show a week at the end of April. The Briefing With Jen Psaki saw an average of 950,000 viewers, which was down from the old show in its time slot, Alex Wagner Tonight, which averaged 1.3 million during its 2022 to 2025 run.
All in With Chris Hayes averaged 912,000 in May, while The Weeknight averaged 772,000 viewers, down from ReidOut‘s final month in February, which averaged 955,000.
This story originally appeared on TV Insider
