MS NOW records year-high viewership in November, driven by election coverage and rebrand

MS NOW delivered its most-watched month in a year in November, according to Nielsen Big Data + Panel ratings, following its rebrand from MSNBC.

The network saw double-digit month-over-month growth across all key dayparts, with total-day viewership increasing 23% to an average of 620,000 viewers.

Among adults 25-54, MS NOW grew 25% to 58,000 average viewers. Weekday primetime averaged 1.25 million viewers, up 25% from October, with 112,000 in the 25-54 demographic, a 24% increase.

On election night, Nov. 4, MS NOW drew 2.8 million total viewers between 8 p.m. and 12 a.m., surpassing both Fox News and CNN. It marked the first time in 25 years the network led Fox News on any election night. MS NOW viewership peaked at 3.3 million during the 9:30 to 9:45 p.m. window, when the New York City mayoral race was called. The network was also the top cable network during mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s victory speech in the 11 p.m. hour.

Weekday primetime programming also saw significant growth. “The Rachel Maddow Show” averaged 1.82 million viewers on Mondays at 9 p.m., leading the time slot in the 25-54 demographic and outperforming Fox News’s “Hannity” for the first time since December 2023. “The Briefing with Jen Psaki” and “The Weeknight” reported their highest audiences to date, with 1.1 million and more than 1 million total viewers, respectively.

Other evening programs showed similar gains. “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” beat its CNN competition among adults 25-54, as did “The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle.”

In morning programming, “Morning Joe” averaged 725,000 total viewers, more than double CNN’s performance in the same time slot. “Way Too Early with Ali Vitali” also outperformed CNN in both total viewers and the key demo.

During daytime hours, “MS NOW Reports” averaged 637,000 total viewers and 53,000 in the 25-54 demo, the show’s highest viewership in over a year. On weekends, the network posted 9% month-over-month gains across both metrics and drew more viewers than CNN for the second month in a row.

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On digital platforms, MS NOW reclaimed the title of most-viewed news network on YouTube in November, with 338 million views, and has accumulated 3.5 billion views year to date. The network surpassed the combined 2025 viewership of ABC News, CBS News and NBC News on YouTube. Combined with TikTok, MS NOW reached 7.4 billion views in 2025.

The most-watched digital clips in November featured segments from Lawrence O’Donnell, Jackie Alemany, Jen Psaki and Stephanie Ruhle. TikTok highlights included reporting on the release of Epstein emails, Trump’s endorsement of Andrew Cuomo, and coverage of Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral victory.

On the web, audience engagement remained steady, with users averaging 25 minutes per session, according to Comscore.

The site ranked ahead of digital properties including NPR, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. Top-performing stories included election coverage, exclusive reporting on federal leadership changes, and op-eds from Lawrence O’Donnell and Hayes Brown.

MS NOW podcasts surpassed 123 million downloads in 2025. The network launched “Rachel Maddow Presents: Burn Order” in November. The six-part series debuted as the top new show on the Apple Podcasts chart.