The 2024 election results were watched by more than 42 million people on cable news alone across the United States, according to figures released by Nielsen.
On November 5, Americans had a slew of cable news channels to choose from to watch the results roll in.
Per Deadline reporting on ratings recorded by Nielsen, the most watched channel was Fox News which pulled in 9.8 million viewers across America between 7 p.m. ET and 11 a.m. ET, when it became clear that the race was most likely going to be won by Donald Trump.
This chart shows the ratings for eight major news networks on election night.
The second most-watched channel was ABC, which received 5.7 million viewers. MSNBC was watched by 5.5 million people, NBC which was watched by 5.3 million people, and CNN was watched by 4.7 million.
These were followed by CBS, 3.5 million viewers, Fox Business Network, 710,000, and NewsNation, 257,000.
According to Axios, the first channel to actually call the election was NewsNation, formerly known as Superstation WGN. They called the election at 1:21 a.m. ET. Fox News waited another 25 minutes and called the election at 1:46 a.m.
Christoph Schmidt/Associated Press
Ratings dropped across the board for this election by 25 percent compared to the 2020 election, when Nielsen recorded 56.9 million viewers, in itself a drop from 2016, which saw 71 million.
Although Fox News was the most-watched channel this year, it still dropped in viewership from 14 million viewers in 2020, per Deadline reporting.
MSNBC drawing higher viewership numbers than CNN was a historical first for the network. CNN saw the sharpest decline in viewership compared to 2020, when it recorded 9.41 million viewers — almost double its 2024 audience, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
It is unclear why fewer people watched this election compared to 2020. However, the last election wasn’t called until November 7, four days after election day on November 3, due to the large number of mail-in ballots and early voters.
Many analysts warned that 2024 could also take days to call, as it was predicted that the race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris would be very close.
Deadline also reported that 24.4 percent of viewers were 55 and older, suggesting younger voters were either less engaged, or getting their election night information from other sources such as social media and at-home streaming, which are not tracked by Nielsen.
The election was also streamed over Amazon Prime with host Brian Williams. This special was not tracked by Nielsen.
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