Fox News wins election ratings, overall viewership falls from 2020

Fox News once again led the pack, getting the most viewers on election night. During primetime hours between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET, 9.8 million viewers tuned into Fox News. However, that is down from the nearly 14 million viewers who watched in 2020.  The network’s coverage from 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. ET averaged 8.6 million viewers and 2.6 million in the 25-54 demo, leading all networks.

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On the broadcast side, ABC News came in No. 1 in primetime with 5.6 million viewers, down 6% from 2020. For the first time in 16 years, ABC News ranked No. 1 among the broadcast networks in all key target demographics: total viewers (5.898 million), adults 25-54 (2.288 million) and adults 18-49 (1.928 million).

Overall, Nielsen said across 18 cable and broadcast networks, 42 .3 million people tuned into coverage. That’s down more than 25% from 2020, when election coverage drew nearly 57 million viewers.

Nielsen said viewership was highest among those 55 years old and above, accounting for 24.35 million of the 42.3 million viewers, followed by 11.4 million people ages 35-54, and 4.38 million viewers ages 18-34