How the Major News Outlets Performed in 2024

CNN

The CNN Presidential Debate between Biden and Trump on June 27 was the first presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle and drew the biggest audience in the network’s history. A combined 52.65 million total viewers and 14.26 demo viewers tuned in to watch the debate, which was simulcast across multiple networks. Still, CNN lead the way with 9.53 million total viewers and 3.379 demo viewers.

Months later, CNN enjoyed its best day in total day viewership in nearly four years on Election Day, with 2.088 million total viewers and 808,000 demo viewers.

As a sign that audiences still tune in to CNN for breaking news, the network ranked second in primetime during Trump’s first assassination attempt on July 13, with 2.658 million total viewers and 1.056 demo viewers.  

Similarly, when Biden suspended his re-election campaign on July 21, CNN finished second across all of cable with an average of 2.002 million total viewers and 567,000 demo viewers.

On the digital front, CNN Digital maintained its first place rank in U.S. unique visitors across desktop and mobile web during every month of 2024. CNN’s website was the most-visited site among all the broadcast, cable, and streaming news outlets during the month of November. It also finished in second place behind The New York Times’ website among the Top 50 websites in the U.S. during that month, according to the PressGazette.

In the streaming space, CNN Max’s five best programming days for the year were, in order: the 2024 presidential election on Nov. 5, the CNN presidential debate on June 27, CNN’s New Year’s Eve with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen on Dec. 31, the day after the election on Nov. 6, and the final day of the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 22.

Fox News

Fox News had a banner year as the No. 1 network throughout the 2024 presidential election season. It finished 2024 with the highest share of the cable news audience in nearly a decade, and marked nine consecutive years as the highest rated network on television.

Fox’s election night coverage attracted 13.6 million total viewers and 4.4 million in the A25-54 demo. Its coverage of Harris’ concession speech the following day was also first among the cable nets.