In Cable News, Winning The Press Release Matters As Much As Ratings

Every month, the big cable news networks don’t just slug it out on-air — they also wage a parallel contest that the viewing public doesn’t see, one that actually unfolds in the email inbox of media reporters.

The goal of this particular scramble has to do with the announcement of Nielsen ratings. And it’s a much more competitive race than you’d think.

The contest isn’t just about announcing the ratings — it’s about shaping the story around them, framing the wins, and minimizing the losses in a way that nudges reporters to cover this network as opposed to that one. And August’s data offer a perfect example of how the spin battle plays out, with each press release competing not only on ratings but also on narrative.

The emails from cable’s major players all arrived in a flurry on the same afternoon earlier this week, with Fox News celebrating a summer-long sweep, MSNBC leaning into viewer “engagement” and cross-platform performance, CNN spotlighting its Originals, and NewsNation calling attention to its rapid growth.

How cable news networks frame their Nielsen ratings

Let’s start with Fox’s news release, the email subject line of which endeavored to remind any and all about its place in the pecking order: “Fox News Channel Beats Every Network in Primetime for Entire Summer.”

The network’s release goes on to declare that it’s in the midst of an “historic run,” raving that Fox News Channel has been the “highest-rated network in all of television” in Monday–Sunday primetime since June 20, averaging 2.43 million viewers (ahead of ABC’s 2.38 million, NBC’s 2.21 million, and CBS’ 2.03 million). For August, Fox brought in 2.3 million primetime viewers and 237,000 adults in the key 25–54 advertising demo, plus a 63% total-day share of cable news viewing and 65% in primetime.

And only then does Fox get around to spiking the football.

The month of August, Fox can’t resist pointing out, saw the “dismantling” of CNN and MSNBC, both of which “lost half of their audience” vs. a year ago. Fox also spotlights its own hit franchises like The Five, which drew 3.5 million viewers at 5 p.m., “surpassing CBS’ Big Brother.”

Jesse Watters Primetime scored 3.1 million viewers, while late-night’s Gutfeld! posted 2.8 million and “continued to dominate all of late-night television.” The network’s morning show Fox & Friends also finished August with 1.3 million viewers and 148,000 in the demo, allowing it to claim “54 consecutive months” at #1 in the demo.

How Fox’s TV news rivals spin their own performance

MSNBC and CNN, meanwhile, are both far behind Fox in terms of viewership. But you wouldn’t know it from their own respective announcements. MSNBC, for its part, framed its August performance around the engagement of its viewer base.

Its announcement opens with a sweeping claim: “MSNBC commands one of the most engaged audiences in all of television,” with viewers watching eight hours a week on average — “nearly doubling” CNN’s weekly average. (There it is again: Seizing upon an advantage at a rival’s expense.)

Year-to-date, MSNBC says it averages 1.2 million in weekday primetime and 573,000 total day, and in August it beat CNN in weekday primetime for the 105th consecutive month (971,000 compared to 488,000). Among the sharpest competitive language: “MSNBC doubles CNN’s primetime audience,” with callouts like The Rachel Maddow Show having “four times as many total viewers” as its CNN counterpart on Mondays (1.9 million vs. 463,000).

MSNBC’s news release also looks beyond linear: “5.7 billion combined views across YouTube and TikTok year to date,” with August YouTube views at 276 million, driven by politics-heavy breaking news. Podcasts also get their own victory lap, with MSNBC touting nearly 100 million downloads year-to-date and The Best People with Nicolle Wallace debuting at #1 on Apple’s podcast chart in June.

That brings us next to CNN’s August earnings press release, which points to the strength of its CNN Originals as well as the network’s broader ecosystem. The topline: “Top 5 most-watched cable network” among viewers aged 2 and up (P2+, in the Nielsen nomenclature) across the total day for the eighth consecutive month.

The network also highlights programming wins: Live Aid: When Rock ’n’ Roll Took on the World brought in 682,000 P2+ viewers and 84,000 adults aged 25-54, CNN’s “best performance for a CNN Original Series in over a year,” while American Prince: JFK Jr. and the return of Real Time with Bill Maher delivered triple-digit time period growth. CNN’s news release also highlights a subscription strategy: “With an elevated strategic focus on digital subscriptions, engagement has increased concurrently, with a 5% increase in year-over-year average visits per visitor across CNN’s digital platforms in the United States” from January to July.

Then there’s NewsNation, which positions its performance as a growth story.

Its release arrived in all caps: “FASTEST-GROWING CABLE NEWS NETWORK IN TOTAL DAY,” up 14% in total viewers and 17% in the 25–54 demo compared to August 2024, with “EIGHT consecutive months” of year-over-year total-day growth. The release also cites specific head-to-head moments — “outpaced MSNBC in daytime at least THREE TIMES this past month” in the 25–54 demo — and it touts show-level momentum: Cuomo, for example, was up 14% vs. its first quarter launch.

The bottom line: For those keeping score, the numbers here all come from Nielsen, and it’s pretty easy to use them to point to who’s up and who’s down. Nevertheless, the storytelling around it all couldn’t be more different.

Rather than serve as a critique of any of the networks’ press shops, though, this is all a good reminder that in today’s attention economy, TV ratings themselves are only part of the story. The competition also turns on how the networks’ numbers are presented and amplified. It’s certainly tempting for a media reporter to be cynical (snarky, even) about all this, but one could argue that there’s a glass-half-full element here that’s also worth noting:

It’s the fact that audiences, advertisers, and reporters still care enough about cable news to make the results themselves worth fighting over.