Viewers Flee MSNBC, and Flock to Fox News, in Wake of Election

Rachel Maddow opened her MSNBC show on Monday night with a sobering 26-minute monologue. Between deep sighs and the occasional shake of the head, Ms. Maddow went through the people President-elect Donald J. Trump had named to his new administration. To say the least, she was not a fan of his selections. But it was important to go through them, she said. “It is better to be cleareyed about these things and to see them coming,” she said, “than to be in denial or to be surprised by them when they come around.” It seems her audience does not agree, at least for the moment. “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the liberal network’s highest-rated program, drew 1.3 million viewers on Monday, about a million shy of her October average, according to Nielsen. In a crucial ratings metric — viewers under the age of 54 — it was the least-watched edition of the show since April 2022. That performance mirrors much of what has been happening at MSNBC in the week since Mr. Trump’s election win. MSNBC has averaged 550,000 viewers since Election Day, a 39 percent decline compared with the network’s average in October. In prime time, MSNBC’s audience has declined 53 percent, according to the Nielsen data. The opposite has happened at Fox News, MSNBC’s conservative rival. Fox’s audience in prime time has grown by 21 percent since last Wednesday, with an average of 3.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen. Its total day audience has jumped 38 percent. As Mr. Trump has turned to some Fox News talent to help fill out his administration, the network’s coverage has been more euphoric than sober. Mr. Trump has named Tom Homan, a Fox News contributor, as his “border czar,” and on Tuesday night said that he had selected Pete Hegseth, a co-host of “Fox & Friends Weekend,” as his defense secretary. “Wow, that is pretty cool,” said Laura Ingraham, the network’s 7 p.m. anchor, as she learned about Mr. Hegseth’s selection while on the air. “Gosh, we’re going to miss him at Fox, but that’s a gain for the country.” Viewership totals have plummeted or spiked in the immediate aftermath of presidential elections before. MSNBC’s ratings also declined following the 2016 election. And Fox News experienced viewership declines after the 2020 election was called for President Biden. That dip, however, was largely attributed to a backlash against the network from its audience for declaring that Mr. Biden had defeated Mr. Trump in Arizona, a crucial battleground state. Fox News, of course, would eventually see ratings bounce back, as did MSNBC in 2017. “In the wake of the result, people are probably turning to self-care,” said Martin Kaplan, who runs the Norman Lear Center at the University of Southern California. “It’s like post-traumatic stress disorder of some kind. You don’t want to go back to the scene of the explosion right away.” CNN, which has struggled with ratings for months, has also had falling viewership in the days since the election. The cable news network has averaged 413,000 viewers since last Wednesday, a 22 percent decline compared with its October averages. In prime time, its viewership declines stand at 43 percent, Nielsen said. But the post-election results are something of a reversal of fortunes for MSNBC, which declined to comment for this article. During prime-time hours on election night, MSNBC scored an audience of six million viewers, besting CNN’s 5.1 million viewers that night. It was the first time MSNBC had a larger audience on election night since its founding in the 1990s. (Fox News had more than 10 million viewers, easily winning the night.) MSNBC also had gains in the run-up to the election. Its audience spiked 18 percent in August, September and October compared with the rest of the year, the network said. It also widened its viewership lead over CNN in recent months. And even with nose-diving ratings over the last week, MSNBC’s audience remains larger than CNN’s. MSNBC also saw temporary audience declines after Mr. Biden’s disastrous debate performance earlier this year. The viewership totals rebounded after Mr. Biden dropped out and Vice President Kamala Harris took over the Democratic presidential ticket. Privately, MSNBC officials expect a similar trend in the coming weeks and months. But the performance does raise questions about whether or not there will be another so-called Trump bump next year. In 2017, MSNBC and CNN experienced huge ratings gains in the frenetic opening months of Mr. Trump’s administration, as did a number of late-night shows that were critical of his presidency. Fewer people watch cable and broadcast television now than they did seven years ago. And the jury is still out about whether liberal viewers will be craving “resistance” television in the same way next year. “People have been living in maximal consumption of Trump news for the last 10 years, and certainly the last year,” Mr. Kaplan said. “There’s a certain amount of exhaustion involved.” 2024 Elections: News, Polls and Analysis, Fox Entertainment Group, Inc., CNN, NBC Universal, Nielsen Media Research, Rachel Maddow Our Coverage of the 2024 Election Aftermath of the Election — ‘America First’ Foreign Policy: President-elect Donald Trump is considering nominees who fit more comfortably within his often erratic worldview, in which deal-making reigns over ideology. — Demand to Skirt Senate Confirmations: Trump is pushing Republicans to systematically abdicate the Senate’s constitutional role in vetting his nominees. — Who Will Lead the Democrats?: The party will soon have a leadership vacuum, and there will be no shortage of ambitious governors, senators and Biden cabinet members looking to fill it. Presidential Transition — Trump’s Cabinet Nominations: Trump has quickly begun to assemble the list of people who will serve in his cabinet and in other senior positions during his second term. — Defense Secretary: Trump chose Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host and veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to be his defense secretary, elevating a television ally to run the Pentagon. — A Focus on Deportations: With his staffing decisions, Trump is signaling his intention to carry out a campaign promise of widespread deportations of undocumented immigrants. More News and Analysis — Economic Outlook: Consumer sentiment among Republicans has soared to its highest point since Trump left the White House in 2021, while declining among Democrats. — Opposing Trump: Two Democratic governors are forming a group to resist the next Trump administration and help protect state-level institutions of democracy. — Congress: Ebullient Republicans returned to Capitol Hill to face questions about how they will wield their power — and how tight a grip Trump will have on their new majority.