The off-year elections gave a ratings boost across cable news on Tuesday (November 4), but especially for MSNBC, which topped the night in total viewers with its largest primetime audience of 2025.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, citing Nielsen preliminary ratings, MSNBC averaged 3.04 million total viewers, putting the network ahead of Fox News (2.85 million) and CNN (1.78 million). MSNBC also led Fox News in the key Adults 25-54 demo with 490,000 to 448,000; however, CNN topped the night in the demo with 574,000.
Tuesday’s ratings victory marked the first time MSNBC led Fox News in both total viewers and the key demo since the Democratic National Convention in August 2024. It was also the network’s best off-year election night showing since 2019.
All three outlets were above their recent primetime numbers, with MSNBC and CNN each tripling their average total audience from the past month. Fox News, meanwhile, drew around 500,000 more viewers than on an average night.
Despite MSNBC’s primetime victory, Fox News still topped the chart for the entire 24-hour day on Tuesday with 1.97 million viewers. MSNBC averaged 1.28 million (the network’s best numbers of the year), and CNN averaged 748,000. Per THR, these figures are based on fast national numbers.
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MSNBC’s primetime ratings win comes as the network prepares to rebrand as MS NOW on November 15. The change comes as Comcast spins off its cable networks into a new company, Versant, which includes separating MSNBC from NBC News.
The separation officially began last month, with NBC News no longer sharing staff, reporters, or resources with MSNBC. Tuesday’s election night saw MSNBC covering the results with its own reporters, including Ali Velshi taking over Steve Kornacki’s regular spot on the Big Board.
Tuesday’s results proved a big night for the Democrats, with wins for Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) in Virginia, Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) in New Jersey, and Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s monumental victory over former Governor Andrew Cuomo in New York.
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