The decline in viewing on most cable networks continued in 2023. The falloff comes from the prevalence of cord cutting coupled with premium content and subsequently viewers leaving cable television for streaming platforms. Also, in 2023, any original scripted content still airing on cable television was impacted from the work stoppages of screenwriters and actors. As a result, in 2023, for the first time in recent memory, not one cable network maintained a primetime average audience in excess of two million viewers.
The audience erosion follows current trends. According to Nielsen, last year only Fox News averaged more than two million viewers. Ten years ago, when cord cutting and streaming video were both in its nascent stage, there had been six cable networks that averaged over two million primetime viewers; USA, ESPN, Disney Channel, History Channel, TNT and TBS. Furthermore, in 2023 there were only three cable networks that sustained an average audience above one million viewers, compared to five in 2022. By comparison, in 2013 there were 19 cable networks that averaged over one million viewers.
According to Variety, which posted the ratings, in 2023, Fox News despite a year-over-year average audience decline of 20%, was, once again, the top-rated cable network, with an average of 1.9 million viewers. It had been an eventful year at Fox News, in April the network unexpectedly ousted Tucker Carlson, host of its top-rated primetime show. The decision led to a shuffling in the primetime programming lineup. In addition, during the year, Fox News settled two lawsuits with producer Abby Grossman and with Dominion Voting Systems.
CNN, was another top tier cable news network that reported a year-over-year drop in viewing of 20%, averaging 591,000 viewers. Similar to Fox News, CNN also had a midyear primetime programming makeover. In addition, after a short tenure, CNN President Chris Licht left the news network. MSNBC was the only major news network which grew its primetime average audience, by a modest 2%, to 1.22 million viewers.
A few smaller cable news networks fared better in 2023. For example, Newsmax grew by 22% to 225,000 and Nexstar’s NewsNation was up by 72% to 109,000. The programming highlight for NewsNation had been televising the fourth Republican Presidential debate in December, which set a network high 1.59 million viewers. With 2024 an important election year, the audience delivery for cable news networks will be expected to increase.
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For cable’s long established broad-based entertainment networks, primetime viewing declines continued, with content consisting mostly of off-net programming, theatrically released feature films and, at times, live sports. TNT reported a drop of 3% to 938,000 while sister network TBS declined by 10% to 786,000. The primetime average audience of USA Network reported a decrease of 7% averaging 688,000 viewers. Hallmark Channel, which had been averaging over one million viewers in primetime, reported a decline of 10% in 2023, with an average primetime audience of 929,000.
Other broad-based and familiar cable entertainment networks recorded even sharper declines in viewers. For example, in 2023, Lifetime’s average audience fell 25% to an average audience of 443,000. The average primetime audience for A&E fell 15% to 432,000. With programming often available on Hulu, viewing to FX decreased by 16% to 389,000.
Also, AMC, which has not found a suitable replacement for The Walking Dead, averaged 369,000 primetime viewers, a year-over-year falloff of 21%. Due to the work stoppage, there were no original episodes of the top-rated Yellowstone airing in 2023. As a result, the primetime audience for The Paramount Network fell by 30% to 346,000. (In 2022, Paramount Network ratings grew by 8%.) Original episodes of Yellowstone are scheduled to return in November. Freeform was one of the cable networks that, in the aftermath of their carriage dispute with Disney, was pulled by MVPD Charter in September. In 2023 Freeform reported a decline in primetime audience of 16%, averaging 254,000 viewers.
Looking at other top-tier cable networks, the audience of ESPN fell by 9% to 1.7 million viewers. HGTV’s average audience fell by 13%, dropping below one million viewers to 943,000. The average audience for the History Channel fell by 7% to 775,000. Viewing to TLC dropped by 23% to an average audience of 749,000. The average audience for The Discovery Channel fell 14% to 703,000. TV Food Network also reported an audience drop of 14% averaging 675,000 viewers. The audience delivery for Bravo and Investigation Discovery Network both dropped by a more modest 4% averaging 571,000 viewers and 546,000 viewers respectively.
With viewers and content moving on to streaming, Variety also points out a significant falloff in viewers to pay premium cable networks such as HBO, Showtime and Starz. All three had year-over-year declines of 25% or more. Cable networks targeting kids also continued its steep decline including Disney Channel, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network among others, all had sizable declines compared to 2022. Hence, cable television’s woes in 2023 were not just limited to regional sports networks.
Not every entertainment cable network however, suffered declines in viewing. The Reelzchannel continues to increase its audience defying trends. In 2023 the cable network averaged 337,000 viewers, a year-over-year increase of 34%. In 2022 the average audience of the Reelzchannel had more than doubled (+107%) compared to 2021.
While eMarketer forecasts ad dollars for connected TV to grow by 22% in 2024 reaching $30 billion, the loss in viewing to cable TV will result in a loss of ad revenue. Last year Scott Robson, a senior research analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence, had forecast ad revenue for cable television to drop by 4.9% in 2023 to an estimated $22.4 billion. The S&P report expects ad revenue to drop below $20 billion by 2027. The last time cable ad revenue was below $20 billion was in 2007.
