Midterms TV Coverage: 25.4M Viewers, Down Nearly 30% Vs. 2018

The 2022 U.S. midterm election prime-time news coverage earned 25.4 million average viewers across 13 networks -- down 29.6% from 2018 midterm results, according to Nielsen.

Live coverage of the 2022 midterm elections during prime-time hours, 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. aired on ABC, CBS, NBC, Telemundo, Univision, CNN, CNNe, Fox Business, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, Newsmax, and NewsNation.

NIelsen says out-of-home viewing and connected TV viewing are included in the total viewing numbers, adding that CTV viewing can be as much as 13% for news events.

In looking at Nielsen fast national data, a breakdown of the top TV prime-time news networks during 8 p.m. to 11 p.m shows Fox News Channel 7.4 million on top. ABC was next at 3.3 million; MSNBC, 3.2 million; NBC, 3.1 million; CNN, 2.61 million; CBS, 2.56 million; and Fox Business, 629.000.

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Fox also led in 25-54 viewers -- 1.9 million. CNN was next with 1.059 million, followed by NBC with 1.058 million.

Four years ago, the midterm elections earned 36.1 million across 11 networks: ABC, CBS, NBC, TEL, UNI, PBS, CNN, CNNe, Fox Business, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC.

This time around, Nielsen says, 43% watched broadcast network coverage, while 57% watched coverage on cable networks. As expected, the strongest demographic group were those viewers ages 55 and older -- 65%, which totaled 16.6 million.

For those viewers 35-54, this group represented 25% of all viewers (6.26 million), with 18-34 viewers, at a 7% share (1.78 million).

 
1 comment about "Midterms TV Coverage: 25.4M Viewers, Down Nearly 30% Vs. 2018".
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  1. Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, November 10, 2022 at 12:38 p.m.

    Wayne, no surprise about the reduced average minute audience levels as the same thing has happened to virtually all TV shows. 

    What's interesting are the age breakdowns. While people keep thinking that the "key" news viewer "demo" is adults aged 25-54---"audiences that advertisers would die for", is the typical way they are described--- the actual "key" viewing group is adults aged 55+ and as  usual, this segment constituted 65% of those "watching"per minute. However, not so for CNN, which, somehow, attained a considerably younger audience, albeit  a smaller one, than four years ago. Where the median age of the Fox viewer was 64 years the corrseponding figure for CNN was a mere 57 years and roughly two out of five of its viewers were adults aged 25-54.

    I'm not sure if this means anything. It may be a good sign ---or a bad one, in the latter case, suggesting that core news viewers---older adults---are deserting CNN. It's something to keep an eye on, however.

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