Media top headlines May 4
Gov. Andrew Cuomo's warning that unvaccinated people could kill their grandma's and more round out today's top media headlines.
Fox News Channel was the most-watched cable-news channel from April 26 through May 2, topping liberal networks CNN and MSNBC for the 11th straight week among both primetime and total day viewers as CNN’s "New Day" continues to drag down the liberal network despite multiple attempts to salvage the hapless morning show.
Fox News averaged 2.3 million primetime viewers to finish No. 1 in all of basic cable, even topping ESPN’s NFL Draft coverage. ESPN averaged 2.1 million viewers to finish second, while MSNBC averaged 1.6 million to finish third. "Tucker Carlson Tonight" averaged 2.9 million viewers to finish as the most-watched cable news program of the week.
Newly minted co-host Brianna Keilar hasn’t been able to fix CNN’s struggling morning show "New Day." (Photo by Joshua Blanchard/Getty Images for Politicon)
Fox News also topped all of basic cable among total day viewers, averaging 1.2 million as MSNBC, CNN and ESPN all failed to crack the one-million viewer plateau. The daytime dominance was helped by FNC’s "The Five," which beat everything CNN and MSNBC had to offer, including during primetime, despite airing at 5 p.m. ET.
CNN’s revamped morning show "New Day" continued to embarrass the liberal network despite CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker’s reputation as a morning TV guru. Zucker handpicked Brianna Keilar as the new "New Day" co-host, but she hasn’t helped attract viewers despite a highly publicized relaunch two week ago.
CNN’s struggling morning show actually had its worst week of the year among total viewers last week, and was down five percent compared to the previous week when Keilar debuted in the seat previously occupied by Alisyn Camerota.
"Fox & Friends" averaged 1.2 million viewers, while CNN’s "New Day" settled for only 487,000 viewers.
CNN finished the week of April 26 with its worst performance since the week of February 17, 2020.
CNN’s "New Day" failure raises eyebrows as Zucker rose to prominence while overseeing NBC’s "Today," which led many to believe the CNN honcho was an expert when it came to morning news programs. However, CNN has now gone through multiple attempts to fix "New Day" since it launched but nothing has helped the liberal morning show in the ratings department.
"New Day" is now averaging fewer than 500,000 viewers since it relaunched with Keilar and is down 37 percent compared to the first quarter when Camerota was still seated beside co-host John Berman.
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Zucker ran through Camerota, Kate Bolduan, Chris Cuomo and Michaela Pereira as "New Day" co-hosts before landing on Berman and Keilar, but the show continues to struggle despite the former "Today" executive’s multiple attempts to shake up the formula.
However, CNN’s "New Day" isn’t the only struggling morning show, as MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" had its least-watched week since Dec. 2019 and has now lost to "Fox & Friends" for six straight weeks.
Americans turned to Fox News on Wednesday for President Biden’s joint address to Congress, as FNC averaged 1.4 million viewers to defeat both CNN and MSNBC for the day. Sen. Tim Scott’s response also brought Americans to Fox News, as 3.3 million viewers tuned in during the GOP retort to help FNC defeat ABC, CBS and NBC in addition to CNN and MSNBC during Scott’s remarks.
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CNN’s programming changes haven’t resonated with viewers, but FNC’s "Gutfeld!" continues to thrive as the network’s newest addition. "Gutfeld!" averaged 1.5 million viewers to beat CNN and MSNBC in its timeslot, along with NBC’s "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon," HBO’s "Real Time with Bill Maher," "Last Week Tonight," CBS’ "The Late Show with James Corden," NBC’s "The Late Show with Seth Meyers" and TBS’ "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee."
MSNBC’s "The ReidOut" with Joy Reid had its worst week of all time coming off the three-year anniversary of her infamous "hacked-blog" debacle.
All data courtesy of Nielsen Media Research.