You gotta admire the effort. MSNBC and CNN both deserve trophies. While the completion at Fox has stomped on their collective necks, the two alternate reality left-wing networks have persisted. CNN and MSNBC are like youth soccer teams who went 0 for forever in May. They deserve our attention, if only for the collective lack of attention by the viewing public. Give them both pats on their heads and a slice of orange and tell them they tried their best – there's always next month. Pride Month is next up and, heck, it can’t get worse... right?
With a couple of days left in May, ratings are in, and the results are both predictable and ugly.
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.
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, Gutfeld! (2.92 million), Special Report With Bret Baier (2.81 million), and Hannity (2.73 million).
I admit that I don’t watch a lot of TV. When I do turn on a TV for news or commentary, it's to watch Gutfeld for a laugh and some other programming for news. I am not in the target audience – the demographic that networks have determined is the buying public. That demographic is the 25-54 age range:
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%)
Ouch.
MSNBC fired some prime-time “talent” like Joy Reid, and like a rotten tree falling in the forest, people took notice when she was canned in February. Before she was shown the door (and subsequently and predictably claimed racism), she delivered this banger:
CNN and MSNBC tried to cut some dead wood in the hopes that throwing people like Reid to the curb would improve ratings, but alas, that is clearly not the case. The "Why," it seems, is obvious to me. Changing faces isn’t the fix. It is the messaging.
Scott Jennings is popular on CNN because he is a voice of reason in a sea of screaming harpies. But Jenning seems to be playing music on the deck of a sinking Titanic. Will ratings for June improve while CNN slots programming designed to celebrate pronouns and men pretending to be women? Nope.
Both networks are about as popular as Chuck Schumer’s dance moves. Let’s clap for them and give them participation trophies. Good job, guys! You gave it the old college try. Keep it up - you're doing great.
Editor's Note: The mainstream media continues to deflect, gaslight, spin, and lie.
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