The holiday season, typically a slow news period, led to month-to-month declines for all three networks in total viewers and the Adults 25-54 demo across primetime and total day. Fox News ended the final month of the year in its usual first-place position.
CNN saw the steepest declines of the three networks, falling by double digits with total viewers during primetime. There was some good news for MS NOW (formerly MSNBC), as it recorded an uptick in viewers across the board compared to December 2024.
Fox News
According to Nielsen big data + panel, Fox News in December had 1.847 million total viewers in primetime and 159,000 viewers in the adults 25-54 demo. During total day, it had 1.263 million total viewers and 110,000 viewers in the demo.
Compared to its performance in November 2025, Fox News declined by -9% in total viewers and -14% in the A25-54 demo during primetime viewing hours. During total day, it also fell by -8% in total viewers and -11% in the demo when compared to the previous month.
Looking at Fox News’ performance against the same month in 2024, it was down by -13% in total viewers and by -34% in the demo during primetime. In total day, it was down by -14% in total viewers and -38% in the demo—it was the only network to see declines within this yearly comparison.
The network finished December in second place among total viewers and was No. 4 in the demo during primetime. During total day, it remained in first place in total viewers and was the No. 2 network in the demo.
MS NOW
MS NOW was in second place among the most-watched cable news networks in primetime and total day, with 874,000 and 565,000 total viewers, respectively, in December. The network in the A25-54 demo had 72,000 viewers in primetime and 47,000 viewers during total day.
Compared to November, MS NOW was down -8% in total viewers and -18% in A25-54 during primetime. During total day it dropped by -6% in total viewers and -15% in the demo.
Looking at its performance in December 2024, MS NOW was up +62% in total viewers and +60% in the demo during primetime. It was also up +40% in total viewers and +34% in the demo during total day.
MS NOW remained in third during primetime and total day with total viewers. It finished No. 17, tied with HGTV in the demo during primetime, and ranked 16th in the demo during total day.
CNN
During primetime in December, CNN had 488,000 total viewers and 69,000 A25-54 viewers. When looking at total day, the network had 394,000 total viewers and 53,000 demo viewers.
