Newsmax Ratings Surge As Single Show Beats Out CNN’s Entire Lineup

Conservative-leaning news outlet Newsmax appears to be taking advantage of a post-election ratings decline for CNN, as the network pulverised its left-leaning competitor over the first two days of Thanksgiving week.

According to Nielsen ratings from Monday, November 23, Newsmax’s Rob Schmitt Tonight crushed CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront in the 7 p.m. timeslot. On Monday, Schmitt’s program led the night with 520,000 viewers per minute, beating out Burnett’s 494,000.

Schmitt’s Monday ratings were so strong that they beat out “Anderson Cooper 360,” which drew 403,000 viewers per minute, as well as every additional show in CNN’s primetime lineup.

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The lead widened on Tuesday, when Schmitt’s Newsmax show had 539,000 viewers per minute compared to 498,000 for Burnett. Newsmax’s flagship show also managed to surpass CNN’s viewership in every single hour of its programming wheel.

The trend is even more significant when considering the fact that CNN is available in 15 million more homes than Newsmax. CNN and other major networks also benefit from ambient traffic in gyms, waiting rooms and other public places, while they also pay for access to television sets in airports.

“More and more Americans are tuning in because they’re tired of the constant media spin,” Schmitt said of his show’s rating success.

“We give viewers an honest take on the news, and they’re responding,” he added.

Newsmax has seen a massive spike in viewership since the 2020 election, when Fox News angered conservatives with an early presidential race call in Arizona. The network also experienced a massive 330 percent spike in web traffic in December 2020 when compared with the same time period in the previous year, a jump that catapulted Newsmax to the second most-trafficked right-leaning website.

Positive ratings trends continued for the network in 2024, as viewership was up across all of its daytime slots in the calendar year. A growing number of Americans also identify Newsmax as their primary source of news.

A recent Pew Research Survey of about 10,000 Americans found that Newsmax was one of America’s top news sources during the 2024 election, putting the outlet in company with news giants like CBS, NBC, the New York Times and several others.

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