Key Points
- NBC finished the year as the top broadcast network in prime time, while Fox News led all cable networks.
- Fox News grew its prime-time audience year over year, while NBC saw double-digit declines in total viewers and key demos.
- Ion topped multicast networks as overall viewing trends varied widely across broadcast, cable and multicast outlets.
NBC and the Fox News Channel ended the year as the top prime-time television networks in the broadcast and cable category respectively, according to a review of year-end Nielsen data by The Desk.
NBC was the most-watched network in America in prime-time hours, with an average television audience of 4.386 million viewers over the age of 2 (P2), Nielsen ratings showed. In the key demographic of adults between the ages of 18 and 49 (A18-49), NBC beat out its peers with an average nightly audience of 802,000 viewers — slightly higher than its next closest competitor, ABC, which had 717,000 A18-49 viewers
On cable, Fox News reigned supreme, with an average prime-time audience of 2.764 million P2 viewers and 290,000 in the key demographic of adults between the ages of 25 and 54 years old (A25-54). ESPN was in second place among cable networks, with 1.62 million P2 viewers and 665,000 A25-54 viewers.
Among multicast networks, the E. W. Scripps Company’s Ion Television was the highest-rated network, owed in part to its investment in premium women’s sports and its distribution on broadcast, cable and free streaming platforms. Ion attracted 703,000 P2 viewers in prime-time and 99,000 A18-49 viewers. Weigel-owned Me TV was second among multicast networks with 566,000 P2 viewers and 38,000 A18-49 viewers.
While NBC, Fox News and Ion may have topped their respective categories, viewership trends were different across the most-watched networks. NBC’s overall prime-time audience dipped 15 percent compared to 2024, while Fox News grew its prime-time audience by 11 percent. In key demographics, NBC’s A18-49 prime-time audience dropped 22 percent, while the P25-54 prime-time audience on Fox News fell just 6 percent.
In terms of year-over audience growth, the CW Network topped all traditional broadcast networks with a 12 percent increase in P2 viewership, ending 2025 with an average prime-time audience of 492,000 P2 viewers and 82,000 A18-49 viewers. Roar, a comedy-filled network owned by Sinclair, had the largest growth of any multicast network with a 9 percent increase in P2 viewership.
On cable, Warner Bros Discovery’s (WBD) Tru TV had the largest prime-time growth with a 48 percent increase in P2 viewership, likely attributed to a deeper investment in live sports programming and more alternative broadcasts to premium competitions airing on sister networks TBS and TNT throughout the year. The viewership bump came despite WBD losing the rights to lucrative National Basketball Association (NBA) games, which had been the cornerstone of the cable brand’s sports programming block for years.
Allen Media Group’s Justice Central had the biggest overall prime-time viewership drop in 2025, losing 78 percent of its P2 audience and 83 percent of its A25-54 viewers, Nielsen data showed. Dr. Phil’s Merit TV had the second steepest prime-time loss, with a 38 percent drop in P2 viewers and a 60 percent drop in P25-54 viewership. Both networks logged less than 20,000 P2 viewers in prime-time.
Viewership data was gleamed from Nielsen’s Big Data + Panels measurement product, which evaluates traditional broadcast and cable television viewership along with information from cable-like and network-owned streaming services. Nielsen’s prime-time hours run from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. on the coasts and 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the flyover states, and one hour earlier across time zones on Sundays.
Top Broadcast Networks of 2025, Prime-Time
Rank
Network
P2+ Viewers
YOY CHANGE
1
4.384 million
-15%
2
4.157 million
-7%
3
3.897 million
+4%
4
2.764 million
+11%
5
1.079 million
+3%
6
908,000
+3%
7
703,000
-16%
8
566,000
-8%
9
492,000
+12%
10
397,000
-14%
Source: Nielsen Big Data + Panels, prime-time (Monday – Saturday 8-11pm E/P, Sunday 7-11pm E/P)
Top Cable Networks of 2025, Prime-Time
Rank
Network
P2+ Viewers
YOY CHANGE
1
2.764 million
+11%
2
1.62 million
+3%
3
945,000
-27%
4
707,000
-9%
5
653,000
-11%
6
611,000
-27%
7
594,000
-16%
8
553,000
-15%
9
490,000
-8%
10
