All three major cable news networks saw a ratings surge during their coverage of the U.S. operation to capture Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro on Saturday, though Fox News again beat its competitors as viewers raced to hear from President Donald Trump.
The conservative-leaning network scored roughly 4.4 million viewers in the 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. hour on Saturday and 642,000 viewers in the advertiser-coveted 25-54 demographic, during which anchor Bret Baier spearheaded coverage as Trump began his post-mission comments that the U.S. would “run” Venezuela.
CNN, which had Wolf Blitzer anchor and which regularly sees spikes in viewership during coverage of international events, drew 2.3 million viewers for the hour and 500,000 in the demo. MS NOW, hosted by Ali Velshi and including Rachel Maddow, drew 1.2 million viewers and 143,000 in the demo.
Fox News’ total viewership also grew throughout the 12 p.m. hour as Trump continued his speech, while CNN and MS NOW’s total viewers declined.
Still, CNN ranked No. 3 in all of cable on Saturday behind ESPN and Fox News, and it solidly led MS NOW in both total viewers and the demo through every hour of Saturday save for the 7 a.m. hour. The network, which had “The Source” anchor Kaitlan Collins return that night to lead coverage, saw its best weekend day in viewership since President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign in July 2024. It
MS NOW had its own wins. In its first major instance of international coverage since changing its name, its total viewership on Saturday rose 66% and its demo viewership rose 89% compared to its last four-week average. “The Weekend: Primetime” hosts Ayman Mohyeldin and Antonia Hylton led coverage from 6 to 9 p.m. ET, while “The Briefing” host Jen Psaki anchored from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m.
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