The data is in. Fox News had a good year in 2021.
Fox News Channel finished the year as the most watched cable network, according to Nielsen ratings. The network has stayed at number one every year since 2002, a full two decades ago.
Suzanne Scott, CEO of Fox News Media, released a statement to thank the staffers and viewers.
“I am immensely proud of this landmark achievement as it is a testament to the dedicated teams across FOX News Channel, who are the backbone in making us number one for 20 consecutive years,” she said.
She also called her viewers “the most loyal and politically diverse audience in cable news.”
Fox News finished fourth overall, behind satellite networks like CBS, NBC, and the flagship Fox station.
However, the network also received some bad news: a 34 percent decline in ratings from the previous year.
In fact, the big three cable stations — CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC — all saw their ratings decline in 2021.
CNN saw a particularly steep decline. The network lost 38 percent of its viewership in 2021, amid the sexual harassment allegations involving producer John Griffin, host Don Lemon, and former host Christ Cuomo.
By percentage, MSNBC faced the smallest decline of the big three, but it still attracted a smaller audience than Fox News overall.
Cable news attracted high ratings in 2020, amid the election and the early pandemic. Some viewers worked from home and played the news all day as ambient noise.
Since then, the viewers have left amid audience reports of “news burnout.” Only one cable network, Newsmax TV, increased its viewership in 2021. However, it remained small. It pulled 189,000 daily viewers for a 48 percent gain. By comparison, Fox News pulled more than 2.3 million daily viewers.
In a surprise twist, the satellite networks attracted unexpectedly high ratings in 2021. NBC saw its ratings rise by 9 percent from the previous year. CBS attracted the as many viewers last year as in 2020… and increased its viewership among adults under 50.
In April 2020, a column in the Wall Street Journal called satellite news “the cure for news burnout.”
“Have you watched network news lately? I had stopped more than 20 years ago. I was drawn away by the speed and heat of cable news. So were millions more, judging by the sharp audience declines at ABC, CBS and NBC,” it said.
“Earlier this month, I caught part of a network newscast after hearing my sister was about to appear in a segment. I found myself oddly soothed… Politics played a minor role. President Trump didn’t even appear on one program.”
Still, the satellite networks grew slowly, and Fox News remains on top of the cable channels. When flipping through the big three cable channels, Americans are buying what Fox News is selling.
The Horn editorial team