A streaming service that offers Newsmax’s cable channel and other programming has grown to serve more than 280,000 paid subscribers, the company disclosed in a new filing on Wednesday.
The data line was detailed in an investor’s presentation that touts viewership and revenue growth over the past several years, including a 50 percent lift in audience during the first three months of President Donald Trump’s second term in office.
Newsmax now reaches 56 million cable, satellite and streaming TV homes, and counts more than 33 million regular viewers each quarter, and an average of 15 million viewers each month, the company said, citing data from Nielsen Media Research.
The cable channel has also seen a lift in viewership across all day parts during the first three months of the year (Q1), with its total day viewership up 24 percent compared to Q1 2024. Newsmax claims around 8 million people tuned in to watch Newsmax instead of the Fox News Channel, the Fox Corporation-owned cable network that typically dominates the Nielsen ratings among cable news channels (and did so again during Q1).
Newsmax positions itself as the antidote to American mistrust in the news media, with the channel citing a recent Gallup poll that showed trust in the news media hovers just north of 30 percent.
The company does this by catering mainly to right-of-center audiences, with programming and information that “improves lives and strengthens freedoms.”
It isn’t just audiences that are responding — advertisers and cable systems are, too. The channel’s advertising revenue rose to $80 million last year, a 450 percent increase compared to the $15 million it earned during 2020. National advertisers that were recently added to Newsmax include Mass Mutual, Grainger, TikTok, Carvana, Long John Silver’s, Mucinex, Humana, Tractor Supply Company and the International Olympic Committee.
Cable companies have made more of a concerted effort to add Newsmax over time, with the linear network now available on YouTube TV, DirecTV, Dish Network, Fubo, Comcast’s Xfinity TV and Charter’s Spectrum TV. A free streaming version of the channel that offers prime-time replays and documentaries, called Newsmax 2, is available on Samsung TV Plus, Paramount-owned Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, Amazon’s Fire TV Channels and Samsung Smart TV, further expanding the reach of Newsmax.
All told, the company’s various distribution and programming strategies earned Newsmax $171 million during 2024, up 309 percent compared to 2019.
Moving forward, Newsmax says it is focused on renewing its distribution agreements with pay TV providers and free streaming platforms, while developing out its premium streaming service and related businesses like podcasts.
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Editor’s note: This article was updated on Friday, May 9 to note that the 33 million viewership figure is based on quarterly reach, and the 15 million viewership figure is based on monthly reach, both per Nielsen data. An earlier version of this story conflated both metrics with Newsmax’s streaming audience.
