Fox News led the 8-11 p.m. ET block with 10.32 million viewers watching coverage anchored by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum. MSNBC (6.01 million) finished second, narrowly beating ABC’s 5.9 million. NBC averaged 5.5 million viewers, followed by CNN (5.1 million), CBS (3.61 million) and the Fox broadcast network (2 million from 8-10 p.m. ET).

Despite all drama leading up to Election Day, Nielsen is reporting that viewing across 18 networks on election night was notably lower than 2020, with over 42 million viewers turned in between 7 p.m.

Wary of the drawn out 2020 election and the infamous early call for Arizona, channels want to explain to audiences how and why they are making calls.

Fox News dominated cable news ratings on election night, drawing 9.8 million prime-time viewers, followed by MSNBC and CNN, according to Nielsen data provided by the network. MSNBC attracted 5.5 million viewers,

Approximately 42.3 million viewers tuned in to primetime coverage of the 2024 U.S. Presidential election on Tuesday night, according to Nielsen data.