How the Major News Outlets Performed in 2024

Meanwhile, the network’s breaking news coverage of Trump’s first assassination attempt in July fueled its highest-rated weekend ever, with 6.9 million total viewers and 1.4 million demo viewers.

Fox News had 70 of 2024’s Top 100 cable news telecasts led by The Five, which averaged 3.4 million total viewers and 330,000 demo viewers. The Five also became the first non-primetime show to deliver over four million viewers during the just concluded fourth quarter, with an average of 4.032 million total viewers and 432,000 demo viewers.

In the late night hours, Gutfeld! became the network’s top-rated demo show, averaging 355,000 viewers and 2.5 million total viewers.

On the digital front, Fox News had 2.8 billion views on YouTube, with  November marking a record month on the platform with over 400 million video viewers. The network’s best recorded day on YouTube was Nov. 6, the day after the election.

NBC News 

Today, NBC News’ flagship morning show, finished 2024 with a glow like that of the rising sun on a clear day. For the first time in 13 years, Today stands as the No. 1 morning show in both measured categories for the season to date, averaging 2.825 million total viewers and 707,000 A25-54 viewers. It wrestled away GMA’s stronghold on total viewers by winning its seventh straight week, the show’s best run since December 2019.

Today continues to take first place in the demo, a position it has held for 70 consecutive weeks—its longest demo win streak in over 5 years. Additionally, Today Digital drew 7.1 million unique visitors and 25.3 million video views on and off network platforms. 

Meanwhile, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt ranked as the most-watched program in all of TV for three consecutive weeks this summer for the first time since 2016, excluding specials, sports, and syndication. Nightly News is averaging 6.193 total million viewers and 903,000 A25-54 viewers.

During the week of July 29, the newscast posted its first No. 1 finish across the board since the week of Nov. 19, 2018 (excluding ties). It averaged 7.712 million total viewers and 1.456 million demo viewers that week.

Nightly News’ best month was in January, when it saw 7.3 million total viewers, while it drew its biggest demo audience in August with 1.204 million viewers. Its best day in total viewers was on July 24 with 5.885 million viewers, and it’s biggest day in the demo was Aug. 5 with 1.643 million viewers.

As a nice feather in Nightly News’ cap, Holt was named 2024’s most-trusted television news personality in America by a Hollywood Reporter/Morning Consult poll.