Cable News Ratings Wednesday May 10: Trump Town Hall Surges CNN Into First Place in Total Day Demo, Still Third in Total Viewers
CNN’s controversial decision to host former President Donald Trump for his first town hall of the 2024 presidential campaign unsurprisingly yielded the most-watched cable news program on Wednesday.
A little more than 3.3 million people tuned in to watch Trump field questions from a friendly Republican audience and a stoic Kaitlan Collins, who despite her efforts to fact-check the former president in real-time, was overtaken by a torrent of falsehoods, including his insistence that the 2020 election was stolen from him. At one point, he even called Collins “a nasty person.”
The next highest-rated show in total viewers on any network on Wednesday was The Five on Fox News with 2.69 million.
The 8 p.m. event blew away the competition, notching more than double the total viewers of both Fox News Tonight and MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes. CNN trounced those shows in the key 25-54 age demographic by an even larger percentage.
The town hall garnered 781,000 demo viewers, compared to just 136,000 for Fox News and 149,000 for MSNBC. The town hall boosted CNN to the top of cable news in the total day demo average with 175,000 viewers. Fox landed second in the total day demo with 159,000 and MSNBC was third with 113,000.
However, despite the town hall’s strong showing, CNN still landed in third in total day viewers with 810,000 average viewers. Fox led the day with 1.45 million total day viewers and MSNBC was second with 1.01 million average total day viewers.
Here is a full breakdown of Wednesday’s cable news ratings by show:
Total Viewers (thousands)
| ET | FNC | CNN | MSNBC | NEWSMAX | NEWSNATION |
| 6a | FOX AND FRIENDS: 786 |
CNN THIS MORNING: 279 |
MORNING JOE: 1014 |
WISE GUYS WITH JOHN TABAC: 57 |
EARLY MORNING: 17 |
| 7a | FOX AND FRIENDS: 1181 |
CNN THIS MORNING: 339 |
— | WAKE UP AMERICA: 184 |
MORNING IN AMERICA: 59 |
| 8a | FOX AND FRIENDS: 1431 |
CNN THIS MORNING: 422 |
— | — | — |
| 9a | AMERICAS NEWSROOM: 2079 |
CNN NEWS CENTRAL: 519 |
MORNING JOE: 956 |
NATIONAL REPORT: 234 |
— |
| 10a | AMERICAS NEWSROOM: 1767 |
CNN NEWS CENTRAL: 580 |
ANA CABRERA REPORTS: 782 |
— | NWSN LIVE W/ MARNI HUGHES: 43 |
| 11a | FAULKNER FOCUS, THE: 1484 |
CNN NEWS CENTRAL: 611 |
JOSE DIAZ-BALART REPORTS: 703 |
— | — |
| 12p | OUTNUMBERED: 1444 |
INSIDE POLITICS: 653 |
ANDREA MITCHELL REPORTS: 717 |
JOHN BACHMAN NOW: 207 |
— |
| 1p | AMERICA REPORTS: 1333 |
CNN NEWS CENTRAL: 596 |
CHRIS JANSING REPORTS: 694 |
— | NEWSNATION NOW: 32 |
| 2p | AMERICA REPORTS: 1164 |
CNN NEWS CENTRAL: 603 |
CHRIS JANSING REPORTS: 805 [2:26 PM-2:59 PM] |
AMERICAN AGENDA: 178 |
— |
| 3p | STORY, THE: 1250 |
CNN NEWS CENTRAL: 656 |
KATY TUR REPORTS: 911 |
— | NEWSNATION NOW W/ BERLIE: 41 |
| 4p | YOUR WORLD W/NEIL CAVUTO: 1205 |
LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER: 673 |
DEADLINE:WHITE HOUSE: 1423 |
CHRIS SALCEDO SHOW, THE: 277 |
— |
| 5p | FIVE, THE: 2692 |
LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER: 718 |
— | CARL HIGBIE FRONTLINE: 265 |
HILL, THE: 36 |
| 6p | SPECIAL RPT W/BRET BAIER: 1834 |
SITUATION ROOM: 683 |
BEAT W/ARI MELBER: 1546 |
RECORD WITH GRETA VAN SUS: 273 |
ELIZABETH VARGAS REPORTS: 37 |
| 7p | JESSE WATTERS PRIMETIME: 2058 |
ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT: 792 |
REIDOUT: 1253 |
ROB SCHMITT TONIGHT: 366 |
ON BALANCE W/ VITTERT: 39 |
| 8p | FOX NEWS TONIGHT: 1349 |
CNN TOWN HALL: 3308 |
ALL IN W/ CHRIS HAYES: 1363 |
ERIC BOLLING THE BALANCE: 394 |
CUOMO: 92 |
| 9p | HANNITY: 1925 |
ANDERSON COOPER 360: 2152 [9:10 PM-9:59 PM] |
ALEX WAGNER TONIGHT: 1424 |
CHRIS PLANTE RIGHT SQUAD: 392 |
— |
| 10p | INGRAHAM ANGLE, THE: 1774 |
ANDERSON COOPER 360: 1227 |
LAST WORD W/ L. ODONNELL: 1588 |
GREG KELLY REPORTS: 404 |
BANFIELD: 95 |
| 11p | GUTFELD!: 1741 |
ANDERSON COOPER 360: 725 |
11TH HOUR W/ S. RUHLE: 1074 |
ROB SCHMITT TONIGHT: 209 |
CUOMO: 57 |
25-54 Demo (thousands)
| ET | FNC | CNN | MSNBC | NEWSMAX | NEWSNATION |
| 6a | FOX AND FRIENDS: 84 |
CNN THIS MORNING: 58 |
MORNING JOE: 114 |
WISE GUYS WITH JOHN TABAC: 13 |
EARLY MORNING: 1 |
| 7a | FOX AND FRIENDS: 155 |
CNN THIS MORNING: 88 |
— | WAKE UP AMERICA: 22 |
MORNING IN AMERICA: 11 |
| 8a | FOX AND FRIENDS: 167 |
CNN THIS MORNING: 115 |
— | — | — |
| 9a | AMERICAS NEWSROOM: 207 |
CNN NEWS CENTRAL: 127 |
MORNING JOE: 117 |
NATIONAL REPORT: 19 |
— |
| 10a | AMERICAS NEWSROOM: 167 |
CNN NEWS CENTRAL: 110 |
ANA CABRERA REPORTS: 97 |
— | NWSN LIVE W/ MARNI HUGHES: 4 |
| 11a | FAULKNER FOCUS, THE: 160 |
CNN NEWS CENTRAL: 120 |
JOSE DIAZ-BALART REPORTS: 92 |
— | — |
| 12p | OUTNUMBERED: 121 |
INSIDE POLITICS: 103 |
ANDREA MITCHELL REPORTS: 86 |
JOHN BACHMAN NOW: 15 |
— |
| 1p | AMERICA REPORTS: 136 |
CNN NEWS CENTRAL: 102 |
CHRIS JANSING REPORTS: 75 |
— | NEWSNATION NOW: 3 |
| 2p | AMERICA REPORTS: 138 |
CNN NEWS CENTRAL: 102 |
CHRIS JANSING REPORTS: 104 [2:26 PM-2:59 PM] |
AMERICAN AGENDA: 19 |
— |
| 3p | STORY, THE: 167 |
CNN NEWS CENTRAL: 131 |
KATY TUR REPORTS: 95 |
— | NEWSNATION NOW W/ BERLIE: 2 |
| 4p | YOUR WORLD W/NEIL CAVUTO: 137 |
LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER: 118 |
DEADLINE:WHITE HOUSE: 133 |
CHRIS SALCEDO SHOW, THE: 33 |
— |
| 5p | FIVE, THE: 277 |
LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER: 141 |
— | CARL HIGBIE FRONTLINE: 28 |
HILL, THE: 5 |
| 6p | SPECIAL RPT W/BRET BAIER: 197 |
SITUATION ROOM: 143 |
BEAT W/ARI MELBER: 161 |
RECORD WITH GRETA VAN SUS: 24 |
ELIZABETH VARGAS REPORTS: 6 |
| 7p | JESSE WATTERS PRIMETIME: 216 |
ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT: 164 |
REIDOUT: 159 |
ROB SCHMITT TONIGHT: 30 |
ON BALANCE W/ VITTERT: 8 |
| 8p | FOX NEWS TONIGHT: 136 |
CNN TOWN HALL: 781 |
ALL IN W/ CHRIS HAYES: 149 |
ERIC BOLLING THE BALANCE: 40 |
CUOMO: 16 |
| 9p | HANNITY: 190 |
ANDERSON COOPER 360: 438 [9:10 PM-9:59 PM] |
ALEX WAGNER TONIGHT: 171 |
CHRIS PLANTE RIGHT SQUAD: 42 |
— |
| 10p | INGRAHAM ANGLE, THE: 241 |
ANDERSON COOPER 360: 253 |
LAST WORD W/ L. ODONNELL: 151 |
GREG KELLY REPORTS: 51 |
BANFIELD: 23 |
| 11p | GUTFELD!: 246 |
ANDERSON COOPER 360: 186 |
11TH HOUR W/ S. RUHLE: 131 |
ROB SCHMITT TONIGHT: 24 |
CUOMO: 14 |
As for the three cable news networks overall, here are the total day averages in total viewers and the 25-54 demo.
Total viewers:
CNN: 810,000
Fox News: 1.45 million
MSNBC: 1.01 million
25-54 Demo:
CNN: 175,000
Fox News: 159,000
MSNBC: 113,000
Here are the prime time averages — encompassing shows which air from 8-11 p.m. — in total viewers and the 25-54 demo.
Total viewers:
CNN: 2.29 million
Fox News: 1.68 million
MSNBC: 1.46 million
25-54 Demo:
CNN: 510,000
Fox News: 189,000
MSNBC: 157,000
For more ratings information and analysis go to ShowBuzz Daily.
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