MSNBC Dominates Fox And Sets Record For Biden Speech

Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 01:28 pm

MSNBC not only beat CNN and Fox News, but they also set a viewership record as 4.1 million people watched Biden’s speech to Congress.

MSNBC provided the ratings data to PoliticusUSA:

MSNBC was the #1 network across all of cable news (ahead of #2 CNN and #3 FOX News) and #2 across all broadcast and cable networks (ahead of #4 CBS, #5 CNN and #6 FOX) during President Joe Biden’s first address to a joint session of Congress on April 28, according to Nielsen.

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During the speech (9:06pm – 10:11 pm), MSNBC drew a record 4.1M total viewers, easily topping CNN (3.3M) and FOX News (3M). Biden’s address marked MSNBC’s largest audience for a presidential address to Congress or State of the Union since 2/5/2019 when MSNBC averaged 3.8M total viewers during former President Trump’s State of the Union address.

MSNBC was also #1 for the entirety of primetime (8pm-11pm), averaging 3.3M total viewers (vs. CNN’s 2.4M and FOX News’ 3.1M) and sales prime (7pm-2am), averaging 2.2M total viewers (vs. CNN’s 1.5M and FOX News’ 2.1M).

Biden’s numbers were not as lopsided toward one network as Trump’s were toward Fox News, which is a good sign as it shows that the President is picking up viewers across the political spectrum.

The Biden speech likely will not be the last record that MSNBC sets in the near future.

Tucker Carlson‘s antics are getting more extreme and desperate on Fox News because the network is losing. Their era of ratings dominance looks to be over. MSNBC led by Rachel Maddow is the top network, and Biden’s speech is more evidence that there is a new number one in cable news.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association