Cable News Ratings Go Off the Charts—Is Charlie Kirk’s Murder the Scandal That Broke the Internet or Just the Star-Crossed Show We Didn’t See Coming?
Added on September 12, 2025 inTV News Cards
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Ever notice how when the cosmos throws a curveball, like Uranus doing its unpredictable dance in Taurus, our earthly drama seems to hit an all-time high? Case in point: the tragic murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk during a speaking event at Utah Valley University sent shockwaves not just through the political landscape but straight into our cable news screens—lighting up ratings like a firework show on the Fourth of July. Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN all saw a wild bump in viewership as they covered the chilling details, while audiences collectively surged by over 65% compared to the week before. Was it fate or just perfectly-timed planetary chaos that had everyone glued to their TVs? Well, one thing’s for sure—when celestial unpredictability meets human tragedy, the media machine goes into overdrive. LEARN MORE
As is often the case with a big news event, viewing for cable news channels surged Wednesday and Thursday with coverage of the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Fox News, MSNBC and CNN all saw increased ratings Wednesday and Thursday as they offered extensive coverage of Kirk’s death by a gunman during a speaking event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday afternoon. Police arrested 22-year-old Tyler Robinson of Utah in connection with the murder late Thursday.
In primetime Wednesday, the three networks collectively averaged 6.89 million viewers, a 65 percent jump from the 4.17 million who watched a week earlier. Thursday’s combined audience of 6.2 million was up 72 percent from the prior week’s 3.6 million.
Per usual, Fox News held big leads over its rivals on both nights. The channel averaged 4.67 million viewers Wednesday, led by the 5.28 million viewers for Jesse Watters Primetime. It drew 4.48 million viewers Thursday, with a two-hour edition of Hannity (4.6 million) leading the night. (On both Wednesday and Thursday, Fox News pre-empted its 10 p.m. comedy show Gutfeld! for an extra hour of Hannity.)
The two primetime blocks were up by 69 percent (Wednesday) and 100 percent (Thursday) over the same nights a week earlier.
MSNBC delivered 1.28 million primetime viewers on Wednesday and 1.02 million Thursday, up 40 percent and 8 percent from a week ago. CNN averaged 940,000 viewers Wednesday night and 699,000 Thursday, gains of 91 percent and 73 percent week to week.
Fox News (2.46 million viewers) and CNN (496,000) both had substantially larger audiences than a week ago for the full day Thursday, growing by 68 percent and 27 percent, respectively, from Sept. 4. MSNBC saw a modest 3 percent uptick for its full day to 683,000 viewers.
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