Trump Verdict Gives MSNBC Its Highest Ratings of 2024

Cable news ratings received a shot in the arm Thursday when Donald Trump became the first United States president to become a convicted felon. While Fox News was the most-watched network on both cable and broadcast television as the guilty verdict was announced, left-leaning channel MSNBC topped cable news during primetime. On top of that, according to Nielsen, the ex-president being convicted of 34 felony charges resulted in MSNBC experiencing its highest ratings of 2024 and its most-watched day in over a year. During the 5 p.m. ET hour, Fox News averaged 4.426 million total viewers and 569,000 in the key 25-54 advertising demographic, compared to MSNBC’s 3.421 million viewers and CNN’s 2.378 million. However, in the 8-11 p.m. time slot, MSNBC pulled in 3.222 million viewers overall and 379,000 in the demo, topping Fox News in both categories. The conservative cable giant nabbed 2.982 million total viewers and 354,000 in the demographic. CNN, which recently suffered its lowest demo primetime ratings in 30+ years, also experienced a significant bump on Thursday night, with 1.189 million viewers overall. Driving MSNBC’s nighttime ratings was host Rachel Maddow’s exclusive interview with ex-Trump fixer Michael Cohen, which drew a viewership of 3.9 million. For the entire day, MSNBC averaged 1.768 million viewers overall, marking the network’s high point this year. It still wasn’t enough, though, to beat Fox News, which attracted an audience of 2.055 million for the total day.