The campaign season has recently seen a surge in interest in political news, following a slow start. Fox News Channel notably experienced a rise in viewership in July, with its highest numbers since November 2020, surpassing other major networks like ABC, CBS, and NBC. Significant events such as an alleged assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, Trump’s acceptance of the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, and President Joe Biden’s decision not to seek re-election contributed to this increased interest in political news.
According to Taboola, over 57 million people engaged with campaign-related news stories on various news sites in the past 45 days, marking a substantial 56% increase from the previous period. Trump had been a prominent topic on news sites until July when Vice President Kamala Harris surpassed him in popularity. Despite a relatively flat performance in the first six months of 2024 compared to 2023, cable news ratings saw a boost in July due to the compelling political events.
Fox News Channel’s prime-time viewership for July averaged 3.45 million, up by 66% from the first half of the year, with a significant increase during coverage of the assassination attempt on Trump and his GOP convention. More than 10 million viewers tuned in to watch Trump’s convention acceptance speech on Fox News alone. CNN also experienced a viewership increase in July, with a 41% rise in prime-time viewers compared to the previous months.
In contrast, MSNBC, which caters to a liberal audience, faced a decline in viewership when Trump dominated the news cycle. However, Harris’ nomination as the Democratic presidential candidate saw a notable upswing in MSNBC’s viewership. Following Biden’s announcement about not seeking re-election, MSNBC’s prime-time viewership surged to 1.7 million from about 1 million the previous week, according to Nielsen data.
