• by Wayne Friedman , June 1, 2018

Cable news networks saw an overall pullback in viewing in May, partly due to NBA playoff viewing.

Fox News Channel still leads all cable news networks.

While prime time grew 6% to 2.38 million viewers and 2% among key 25-54 viewers to 461,000, it slipped in total day (6 a.m. to 6 a.m.) viewing. It was down 2% in total viewers to 1.4 million and 8% lower in 25-54 at 279,000.

Fox News Channel came in at second place overall to TNT -- which had heavy NBA playoff programming.

After almost a year of nonstop growth, second-place cable news network MSNBC lost some ground. In prime time, the network was down 2% to 1.65 million viewers and 21% lower in 25-54 viewers to 329,000. Total day viewing went south: 1% to 914,000 and 11% lower among 25-54 viewers to 196,000.

Still, MSNBC says it had growth in the 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. period, while Fox News and CNN declined. For May, among total viewers, MSNBC was up 4%, with Fox News down 9% and CNN losing 21%.

MSNBC finished in fourth place overall behind first-place TNT, Fox News (second place) and ESPN -- which, like TNT, benefited from strong NBA playoff programming.

CNN was in eighth place overall for May. It was down 25% in total prime-time viewers to 835,000 and 34% lower in the  prime time 25-54 demo to 265,000, but lost 20% in total day viewers to 655,000 and another 28% in the total day 25-54 viewers, to 198,000.