CNN Records Best Month of 2024; Strongest Total Day Audience in 10 Months
STRONGEST PRIME AUDIENCE IN MORE THAN TWO YEARS IN JULY
TOP 5 HIGHEST-RATED CABLE NETWORK
#1 DIGITAL NEWS OUTLET IN THE US
NEW YORK— (July 30, 2024) — In July, CNN maintained its premiere standing as a go-to news source for audiences across linear, digital and streaming platforms. Audiences turned to the leading brand for continuous breaking news coverage including the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump and President Biden suspending his re-election campaign, leading CNN to finish July ranking in the top five of all of cable among P2+ for the fourteenth consecutive month and in the top five among P25-54. CNN’s digital platforms also continue to lead in unique monthly visitors, recording the highest digital reach amongst any news competitor in June.
In July, CNN delivered its strongest Total Day audience levels since the start of the Israel-Hamas War (October 2023) with 527k P2+ and 112k P25-54. Across all of cable in July, CNN ranked #3 among P2+, its fourteenth consecutive month in the top 5. Among P25-54, CNN ranked in the top 5 in all of cable, +35% ahead of MSNBC (112k vs. 83k). This marked CNN’s second consecutive month ahead of MSNBC in the demo and CNN’s strongest competitive advantage vs. MSNBC since January 2023.
In M-Su Prime (8p-11p), CNN was also a top 5 cable network with 866k P2+ and 208k P25-54. Among P25-54, CNN was +50% ahead of MSNBC in prime (208k vs. 139k), the second consecutive month CNN has beaten MSNBC in prime. This was CNN’s strongest prime performance and P25-54 competitive advantage vs. MSNBC in over 2 years, since the start of the Ukraine War in March 2022.
In Prime, Anderson Cooper 360 (M-F 8p) and The Source with Kaitlan Collins (M-F 9p) ranked #2 in cable news among P25-54, ahead of MSNBC (AC360: +27%, 204k vs. 161k; The Source: +18%, 173k vs. 147k). This was the best monthly performance for both programs in P25-54 since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas War in October 2023, and the best for 8p among P2+ since the start of the Ukraine War in March 2022. This was AC360’s strongest competitive advantage vs. MSNBC in over 2 years, since May 2022, and CNN’s strongest advantage in the 9p hour since March 2022.
In daytime programming, CNN surpassed MSNBC by +44% (112k vs. 78k) for the 125thconsecutive month.
In a month dominated by major breaking news, CNN posted significant spikes in viewership, with 3 of CNN’s top 5 rated days 2024TD falling in July (7/13, 7/14, and 7/21). For its coverage of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump (Sat, 7/13/24; Prime 8p-11p), CNN ranked #2 in all of cable among P2+ with 2.66m and #2 in all of TV among P25-54 with 792k (ahead of broadcast). This marked CNN’s 2nd highest Prime and Total Day delivery so far this year among both demos, behind only the day of the CNN Presidential Debate (6/27).
Across all four nights of the 2024 Republican National Convention (Mon, 7/15-Thu, 7/18; Prime 8p-11p), CNN averaged 1.149 million P2+ viewers and 349k million P25-54, beating MSNBC among both demos and posting its strongest P25-54 advantage vs. MSNBC for the RNC (+144%: 349K vs. 143k) on record. When the news broke that President Biden was suspending his re-election campaign (Sun, 7/21, 2p-4p), CNN ranked #2 in all of cable with 2.002m P2+ viewers and 567k P25-54, ahead of MSNBC among both P2+ (+2%: 2.002m vs. 1.964m) and P25-54 (+66%: 567k vs. 342k).
CNN also reached the most viewers in cable news in July among both P2+ and P25-54 (P2+: CNN: 66.2m, Fox News: 58.1m, MSNBC: 49.8m; P25-54: CNN: 20.5m, Fox News: 16.5m, MSNBC: 14.0m).
Across CNN’s digital platforms, CNN once again saw the most unique visitors in the United States, according to the latest Comscore metrics. According to Comscore, CNN reached 107 million multiplatform U.S. unique visitors in June, retaining the #1 digital news platform ranking for more than eight years running. CNN’s lead in unique visitors ahead of #2 NY Times is 14 million unique users for June. June domestic data is the most recent Comscore data available.
CNN continued to have the youngest audience among cable news networks with a Total Day median age of 67 years, -3 years younger than MSNBC (70) and -2 younger than Fox News (69).
TV Source: The Nielsen Company. Live+7D blended with the best available current viewing types. July-24 (7/1/24 – 7/28/24).
Digital Source: Comscore Media Metrix® Multi-Platform, Desktop & Mobile, Custom-Defined List, June 2024, U.S. Based on CNN.com entity compared to a custom list of single brand competitors that are also in the News/Information Category. CNN Brand entity used prior to October 2018.