The New York Times reported today that Fox News will end up the year with 2.4 million prime-time viewers, behind only the NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox. And this is the first time Fox News will finish No. 1 in prime time and total day ratings for basic cable channels.
Even beleaguered CNN was up 76 percent year over year in prime time, averaging 1.3 million viewers. In the 25-54 demographic, CNN averaged 423,000 viewers, almost matching Fox News’s 481,000 total.
MSNBC tallied the biggest gain of the cable news networks with an 87 percent increase in total prime time viewers to 1.1 million. The network also posted a 97 percent increase in the 25-54 segment.
Fox News closes out the year hosting the top two most-viewed cable news shows with Bill O’Reilly’s “The O’Relly Factor” in first place followed by Megyn Kelly’s “The Kelly File.”
The median viewer age is 66 for Fox News, 61 for CNN and 63 for MSNBC.
The Walt Disney Company and OpenAI reach an agreement that will make a set of more than 200 animated, masked and creature characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars available for use by Sora, OpenAI’s short-form generative AI video platform... CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss has moved Tony Dokoupil, a co-host at “CBS Mornings” since 2019, into the anchor’s chair for the “CBS Evening News,” following the departure of John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois... USA Today editor-in-chief Caren Bohan has left the paper.
Michael Kaminer, who was responsible for the Observer’s “Power List” for the past 13 years, has cut ties with the publication... The New York Times Company continues the march toward its goal of 15 million subscribers by the end of 2027... The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is providing more than $6 million in funding to eight organizations working to address the challenges local news and information environments face along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Conservative outlets Fox News, Newsmax and the Daily Caller are holding back from signing Pete Hegseth’s edict restricting press access in the Pentagon... CBS News sees the first executive departure of the Bari Weiss era as head of standards and practices Claudia Milne exits... Indiana University shuts down the print version of The Indiana Daily Student.
Rothschild family plans to unload 26.7 percent stake in The Economist... STAT, a digital media company that focuses the life sciences, brings back Damian Garde, who anchored its biotech newsletter and podcast from 2016 to 2024... High Times officially resumes print publication (following its 2024 shutdown) with the release of a limited-edition, collectible 50th anniversary issue. 
CBS News is set to hand over its reins to The Free Press co-founder Bari Weiss as Paramount acquires her site for $155M... C-SPAN comes on board as an official media partner of the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, which is charged by Congress to lead the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence... A new Gallup survey says that the level of trust that US audiences have in the media has hit a new low.
