MSNBC TOPS FOX NEWS IN TOTAL VIEWERS AND THE DEMO FOR ELECTION NIGHT 2025, #1 NETWORK ACROSS ALL OF CABLE IN PRIMETIME
Topped All Cable News Competition in Total Viewers for the First Time Ever on Any Election Night
(NEW YORK – Nov. 5, 2025) – During last night’s primetime election coverage (8 to 11 p.m.), MSNBC – soon to be MS NOW on Nov. 15 – was the #1 network across all of cable, topping both FOX News and CNN in total viewers, according to Nielsen Preliminary Ratings. MSNBC also topped FOX News in the 25-54 demo. It was the first time MSNBC topped FOX News in total viewers and in the demo since Aug. 22, 2024, during the week of the 2024 Democratic National Convention.
(MSNBC: 3.04 million total viewers, 490,000 A25-54; FOX News: 2.85 million total viewers, 448,000 A25-54; CNN: 1.78 million total viewers, 574,000 A25-54).
Last night’s coverage was led by Rachel Maddow, joined by Nicolle Wallace, Ari Melber, Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele, Alicia Menendez, Chris Hayes, Jen Psaki, Lawrence O’Donnell, Stephanie Ruhle, and more.
MSNBC averaged more viewers than CNN for the fifth straight election and had its largest Election Night viewership advantage over CNN since 2019.
MSNBC also had its most-watched night and day of the year to date, as well as the most-watched off-year Election Night in network history.
For the first time on an Election Night in its 30-year history, MSNBC dispatched its own reporters to bellwether states across the country, reporting on the New York City mayoral race, gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey, and California’s redistricting referendum. More than 15 reporters contributed to coverage, including:
- Antonia Hylton, reporter, Mychael Schnell, Congressional reporter, and Nnamdi Egwuonwu, reporter, reported from New York City.
- Vaughn Hillyard, senior White House reporter, Jake Traylor, White House reporter, and Alex Tabet reported from across New Jersey.
- Ali Vitali, senior Capitol Hill reporter, and reporters Julia Jester and Arielle Hixson reported from Virginia.
- Jacob Soboroff, senior national and political reporter, and David Noriega, reporter, reported live from California.
- Rosa Flores reported live from Minnesota.
- In Washington, D.C, Laura Barrón-López, White House reporter, and Akayla Gardner, White House reporter, reported live from the White House, while Kevin Frey, Congressional reporter, reported from Capitol Hill.
