Markets always matter, in the end. According to AdWeek, during the week of 13-17 October 2025, CNN averaged 529,000 primetime viewers, with 80,000 in the ‘advertiser demo’ (25-54 year-olds). During the day, the network had 390,000 total viewers and 58,000 in the demo.
Mark Mwachiro reports that MSNBC had 822,000 viewers on average, with 63,000 in the demo, during primetime, with an average of 516,000 total viewers and 43,000 demo viewers during the day.
Fox News had 2.333 million total viewers in primetime, with 229,000 in the demo, with 1.537 million total viewers and 145,000 demo viewers in daytime. If you put CNN and MSNBC together, their combined ratings in mid-October would still be less than Fox News.
By contrast, 60 Minutes averaged 8.32 million viewers each week during the year ending in May, and the 19 October edition — the first under the new management of Bari Weiss — was down to 6,904,000 total viewers, likely because it was delayed for an NFL game.
During the week of 13 October, CBS News averaged 3,661,000 total viewers and 432,000 in the advertiser demo — as much or more than CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News combined. CBS is simply as important to the news market as they all are, put together.
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