CNN Drops 26% In Prime Time As Fox News Dominates April Cable Ratings

(Michael A. Schwarz/Bloomberg)

CNN's prime time hosts can only hope it will be better in the new building.

As CNN prepares to move its prime time studios and operations to a glitzy new building at New York City's brand new--and widely reviled--Hudson Yards development, the network saw its prime time lineup drop 26% in April compared to the same month one year ago. CNN's total audience in prime time was well under a million viewers--767,000--while competitors MSNBC and Fox News finished the month far ahead: MSNBC in second place overall with 1.660 million total viewers, and Fox News leading all of cable with a total audience of 2.395 million.

April ranks as CNN's lowest-rated month among total viewers in nearly four years, since October 2015. CNN's Cuomo Primetime, which has been the network's highest-rated hour, drew a total audience of 917,000 viewers in April, the show's worst-ever performance.

Among viewers 25-54, the demographic most coveted by national advertisers, the falloff for CNN was even more stark: down 41 percent. CNN drew 198,000 viewers in the demo, behind MSNBC (255,000) and Fox News (389,000). All three networks saw year-over-year declines in April, with MSNBC down 36% and FNC down 19%.

Among prime time cable news shows, Fox News' Hannity led with a total audience of 3.086 million, followed by FNC's Tucker Carlson Tonight (2.834 million) and MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show (2.630 million). None of CNN's prime time hours finished among the top five shows overall. CNN's top-rated hour, Cuomo Primetime, finished in 26th place.

For Fox, the ratings data released Tuesday by Nielsen put the network into a staggering unbeaten streak as the most-watched cable news network in prime time and total day, at 208 consecutive months.

MSNBC, which has established itself solidly as the second-place rival to Fox News, has now beaten CNN for 27 straight months in prime, and for the first time tying CNN among viewers 25-54 for the total day, the first time MSNBC has posted a #2 finish since June 2014.