Fox News Grows Share of Declining Cable News Pie

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Five big questions re: TV news:
1) How do Americans consume news?
2) Which cable networks had the largest primetime audience?
3) How old is the average audience for cable news?
4) What is the partisanship for each cable news network's audience?
5) Does the public trust TV news? 

Big question #1: How do Americans consume news?

Share of adults who often/sometimes get news by platform, according to Pew:
1) Digital - 86%
2) Television - 64%
3) Radio - 42%
4) Print - 25%

Wow: Radio (↓ 9%) and print (↓ 12%)  got hammered while TV (↑ 2%) grew.

The preferred platform for getting news:
1) Digital - 58%
2) Television - 32%
3) Radio - 6%
4) Print - 4%

Big question #2: Which cable networks had the largest primetime audience?

Cable news networks by primetime audience (YoY growth) according to Nielsen:
1) Fox News - 2.4M (↑ 26%)
2) MSNBC - 1.2M (↑ 1%)
3) CNN - 685K (↑ 18%) 

Cable news networks by primetime audience (2020 vs. 2024) according to Nielsen:
1) MSNBC - ↓ 34%
2) Fox News - ↓ 45%
3) CNN - ↓ 62%

Big question #3: How old is the average audience for cable news?

Average age by cable news network according to Nielsen:
1) MSNBC - 70
2) Fox News - 69
3) CNN - 67

PSA: The average American is 39 years old.

Big question #4: What is the partisanship for each cable news network's audience?

Quick answer: Fox News has the most diverse audience, with 36% being Independents or Democrats.

Big question #5: Does the public trust TV news? 

Quick answer: 31% of Americans have “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of trust in mass media.

Trust in media by party, according to Gallup:
1) Democrat - 54%
2) Independent - 27%
3) Republican - 12%

Trust in media by age, according to Gallup:
1) 65+ - 43%
2) 50-64 - 33%
3) 30-49 - 26%
4) 18-29 - 26%

Worth your time: Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen wrote last year about how the news media is splintering into 12 different realities.

Different realities news media is splintering into, according to Axios:
1) The Musk-eteers
2) Instagrammers
3) TikTok kids
4) New-age grandmas
5) Right-wing grandpas
6) MAGA mind melders
7) Liberal warriors
8) Elite power-consumers
9) The financiers
10) Niche-ers
11) Emerging majority
12) Passive-ists