fbpx

How the 2024 Election Cycle Affects TV Viewership

How the 2024 Election Cycle Affects TV Viewership

By Movieguide® Contributor

TV viewership has risen this month likely due to the upcoming presidential election, but it is still a far cry from what it was in 2020.

Deadline reported on August viewing trends:

Fox News topped primetime, averaging 2.27 million viewers, up 12% from the same period in 2023. MSNBC was up 18% to 1.83 million, and CNN grew by 49% to 1.08 million. In the 25-54 demo, Fox News averaged 288,000, up 15%, compared to 246,000 for MSNBC, up 46%, and 240,000 for CNN, up 63%.

The news outlet also shared, “In total day, Fox News averaged 1.43 million, up 22%, followed by MSNBC with 1.02 million, up 8% and CNN with 615,000, up 13%. In the 25-54 demo, Fox News averaged 190,000, up 32%, followed by CNN with 123,000, up 17%, and 121,000 for MSNBC, up 12%.”

Although numbers have risen, they aren’t what networks have anticipated or hoped.

Fox News averaged 3.64 million in August 2020, while MSNBC hit 2.19 million and CNN earned 1.68 million during the same period.

During the Democratic National Convention last week, MSNBC had the most viewers with 5.2 million in primetime. Conversely, Fox News had the most viewers for the Republican National Convention last month.

The RNC drew “the most viewers across all major cable and broadcast news channels all four nights of the RNC. It set a new record for the most number of viewers for a single cable channel during the final night of the RNC with 10.4 million people watching during the 10:00 p.m. ET hour,” Axios reported.

The rising cost of cable compared to more affordable streaming networks may have drawn people away from cable since 2020.

Last year CNN said, “The decline in traditional broadcast and cable television viewership is accelerating, falling below a major milestone for the first time. In July, linear TV made up less than half of all TV viewing, according to Nielsen. Both broadcast and cable ‘each represented record low shares’ of total viewership, the firm’s report said, making up just 49.6% combined. Meanwhile streaming services, such as Netflix and YouTube, grew last month to a record high of 38.7% of all total TV watching.”

Movieguide® previously reported on cable’s deterioration:

2024’s Q2 reports revealed that linear TV is in dire straits as multiple studios posted abysmal losses related to the business.

“The cable networks just are in this horrific, perennial, never-ending decline,” said Bank of America’s Jessica Reif Ehrlich. “It’s been more abysmal, I think, than almost anyone expected, even just two years ago, when the handwriting was on the wall, we still thought it would be at a slower pace than it’s actually been.”

In the past week, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) revealed a $9 billion loss from linear TV while Paramount Global took a $6 billion loss from its cable endeavors. The situation was so bad for Paramount that it announced it was shutting down its TV studio — though CBS remains open and is taking Paramount Television’s successful shows, such as REACHER.


Watch SHREK THE THIRD
Quality: - Content: +1
Watch IT’S THE SMALL THINGS, CHARLIE BROWN
Quality: - Content: +2