November 10th, 2022

CNN Outperforms MSNBC By +37% During Day 2 Of The 2022 Midterm Election Coverage

 

14.2 MILLION STARTS OF LIVE TV FEED ON CNN DIGITAL ON WEDNESDAY; UP FROM PRIOR DAY AND UP FROM 2020

 

DIGITAL VIEWING ADDED +10% LIFT TO OVERALL CNN TV AUDIENCE

 

CNN RANKS AGAIN AS THE YOUNGEST NETWORK – BY FAR – 10 YEARS YOUNGER THAN MSNBC; 7 YEARS YOUNGER THAN FOX NEWS

 

As control of the Senate and House continued to hang in the balance, viewers turned to CNN on Wednesday, November 9 to get the facts in real time and hear directly from the CNN political team on the ground in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan as the votes from the 2022 midterm election were counted and results came in.

CNN’s coverage on the day after the 2022 midterm election day ranked second and saw 369k in the advertiser-coveted demo 25-54 during the prime 8p-11pET hours, edging out MSNBC on television by +20%. In Total Day, CNN (269k) outperformed MSNBC (196k) by +37%.

CNN This Morning also had impressive performance delivering 235k in the demo, outpacing MSNBC’s Morning Joe (221k) by +7%. CNN This Morning was also up +164% from the previous day – the highest growth in cable news – as viewers tuned in for ongoing election updates.

On CNN’s digital platforms, there were 14.2 million starts of the live feed of CNN TV coverage (an unauthenticated live stream of CNN TV’s programming started at 9am ET Tuesday on CNN.com, CNN OTT and mobile apps under “TV Channels” and CNNgo where available and continued through midnight on Wednesday). The live stream of CNN’s coverage saw 201k concurrent viewers streaming at the 12:35 pm peak on Wednesday, Nov. 9th.

Combining TV plus digital live streaming produced a combined average audience of 1.3 million total viewers. Digital viewing added a +10% lift to CNN TV P2+ average audience for the day after Election Day, ranking 8th among all events on record. CNN coverage (8-11pm ET) saw an average audience of 113k users live streaming the average minute of coverage (equivalent to the way TV ratings are calculated).

CNN’s television audience continues to be the youngest by far (62 years in primetime on Wednesday), 10 years younger than MSNBC (72), and seven years younger than Fox News (69). On election night, in addition to being the youngest, CNN had the most racially and ethnically diverse audience in cable news, reaching more Black, Asian/Pacific Islander, and Hispanic viewers than MSNBC and Fox News.

Historically, audiences stay with CNN Digital in massive numbers the day after an Election Day, with users seeking to understand and engage with the results as they continue to come in. That trend was even stronger in 2022 with 38.4 million unique visitors overall, a 12% increase from the 2022 midterm election day itself, and more than the day after the 2018 midterm election day (36.9M).

The audio of CNN’s Election Night in America continuing coverage also streamed on CNN’s channels on SiriusXM, Radio.com and TuneIn Radio, furthering reach of the coverage.

Photo highlights from CNN’s coverage are available for download and press usage here, with credit to CNN.

CNN’s teams will remain on the ground across the country in states where the results are not yet final to report live on the voting process itself and the state of play as those races are called.

This data is based on Nielsen Fast national data, which does not include out of home viewing.

 

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CNN Worldwide is the most honored brand in cable news, reaching more individuals on television and online than any other cable news organization in the United States. Globally, CNN International is the most widely distributed news channel. CNN Digital is the #1 online news destination, with more unique visitors and video viewers than any other news source. The award-winning portfolio of CNN includes non-scripted programming from CNN Original Series and documentary feature and short films for broadcast, streaming and distribution by CNN Films across multiple platforms. CNN programming can be found on CNN, CNN International, HLN and CNN en Español channels, on the CNN Originals hub on discovery+ on HBO Max and for pay TV subscription via CNN.com, CNN apps and cable operator platforms. Additionally, CNN Newsource is the world’s most extensively utilized news service partnering with over 1,000 local and international news organizations around the world. CNN is a division of Warner Bros. Discovery.

 

PRESS CONTACT
Emily.Kuhn@CNN.com