CNN sees ratings swoon in April

CNN's prime-time ratings dropped a whopping 26 percent in April compared to last year, according to Nielsen Media Research.

MSNBC's ratings were down 14 percent in April 2019 compared to April 2018, while Fox News's ratings overall were flat.

The sharp decrease for CNN marked its lowest-rated month in total viewers since October 2015.

In the 25- to 54-year-old demographic that advertisers covet most, it was the network's least-watched month since Aug. 2015.

In prime time, Fox News finished first with an average of 2.4 million viewers. In April 2018, the network also averaged 2.4 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

MSNBC was second with an average of 1.66 million viewers, down from 1.93 million in April 2018.

CNN was third with 767,000 average primetime viewers, down from 1.04 million in April 2018.

In the 25–54 demographic, all three networks saw a decline.

Fox News delivered 389,000 viewers, followed by MSNBC's 255,000 and CNN's 198,000 viewers in the category.

This compared to 483,000 for Fox, 398,000 for MSNBC and 336,000 for CNN in April 2018.

The top five shows in cable news were Fox's "Hannity" with an average of 3.086 million viewers, followed by "Tucker Carlson Tonight" with an average of 2.834 million. MSNBC's "Rachel Maddow Show" was third with 2.630 million viewers, followed by Fox's "The Ingraham Angle with 2.455 million viewers and "The Five" with 2.4 million in rounding out the Top-5. CNN's highest-rated show was "Chris Cuomo Primetime," which averaged 917,000 viewers in finishing 26th overall in total viewers among the cable news networks.