A town hall-style broadcast of NewsNation’s commentary show “Cuomo” helped the Nexstar Media Group-owned cable news channel triple its viewership in prime-time on Wednesday.
The two-hour special, which aired on NewsNation and simulcast on CW Network stations and affiliates across the country, attracted nearly 800,000 total viewers between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Eastern Time, including 105,000 viewers in the key demographic of adults between the ages of 25 and 54 years old (A25-54), according to Nielsen ratings shared on Friday.
Viewership of the town hall special peaked around 9:15 p.m. Eastern Time, when NewsNation saw 817,000 viewers tune in, including 123,000 in the A25-54 demographic.
Highlights from the town hall special achieved more than 24 million views across NewsNation’s digital platforms, including the NewsNation website and its YouTube page, and clips were viewed more than 18 million times on the cable network’s TikTok profile, a spokesperson said.
The town hall special featured NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo, former Fox News personality and “No Spin News” host Bill O’Reilly and ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith discussing current events and political topics during the two-hour event. The trio were joined by a number of special guests, including White House Border Czar Tom Homan, former U.S. Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, political commentator Adam Mockler, Representative Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Representative Ro Khanna of California.
The full two-hour event is available to stream on YouTube, where it has already racked up nearly 200,000 views.
NewsNation consistently ranks among the top five cable news channels in the United States, and is one of the fastest-growing cable channels by total and prime-time audience. In September, NewsNation increased the audience of its prime-time programming block by 23 percent, according to Nielsen ratings.
The channel launched five years ago as a three-hour news programming block on WGN America, which it eventually replaced on cable, satellite and streaming pay television services. Cuomo joined the channel in 2022 after leaving CNN, and O’Reilly and Smith have made regular appearances on his prime-time show ever since.
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Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story said podcaster Benny Johnson participated in the town hall event. Johnson was scheduled to appear, based on a press release issued by NewsNation before the event took place.
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