The jury was unanimous. But the cable news verdict was a split decision.
Viewers across the country rushed to their television screens Thursday to learn the outcome of the Manhattan criminal case against former President Donald J. Trump.
Fox News had the largest audience for current affairs coverage of the 34 guilty charges, drawing 4.7 million viewers from 5 to 6 p.m., according to Nielsen. That’s a huge audience for a weekday afternoon, and it easily surpassed audiences for CNN, MSNBC and the television networks that intersperse regular programming with special reports.
In the evening, after news of the verdict spread, MSNBC’s viewership increased. In an extremely rare prime-time victory, the left-wing network surpassed Fox News, the perennial No. 1 cable news station, in both total viewers and adults 25-54, the most important demographic for viewers. advertisers.
From 8 to 11 p.m., MSNBC shows averaged 3.4 million viewers, surpassing Fox News’ 3.1 million. CNN averaged 1.3 million.
Many Americans learned the news of the verdict through online sites, email alerts and text messages from family and friends. Still, the size of audiences on traditional television speaks to the great interest in the extraordinary scene in which a former president faces a criminal conviction.
Presidential elections typically generate higher news ratings, but 2024 has bucked that trend. The lack of competition in this year’s first primaries, along with a looming rematch between the same candidates from four years ago, has provided little benefit to news networks. Many Americans are ignoring political headlines or feeling too fatigued by world events to focus on an election that is still five months away.
How Trump’s conviction could sway voters’ opinions is one of the first moments of genuine uncertainty in this year’s campaign narrative. Next month will also bring a major television moment: the first face-to-face primetime showdown between Trump and President Biden, at a CNN debate in Atlanta on June 27.
With the exception of Thursday night, Fox News dominates its cable news competitors in the Nielsen ratings. The network said Friday that it had secured an interview with Trump to air on Sunday’s edition of “Fox & Friends Weekend.” The recorded interview will be conducted by the show’s co-hosts Will Cain, Rachel Campos-Duffy and Pete Hegseth.