Here’s the Median Age of the Typical Cable News Viewer

By A.J. Katz 

In addition to compiling the viewership of TV news programs, Nielsen is also letting us know just how old the cable TV news viewer is.

According to Nielsen Live +7-day data, in 2017 CNN’s median age was 60, while the median age of the Fox News and MSNBC viewer was 65.

The good news for CNN and Fox News: they each aged down one year, from 2016 when CNN’s median age was 61 and Fox News’s was 66.

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The not so good news for MSNBC, their median age jumped two years. It was 63 in 2016.

In prime time, the median age ticks even lower: CNN’s median was 59 (flat vs. 2016); MSNBC’s median was 65 (up two years from 63 in 2016); and Fox News’ was 66 (flat vs. 2016).

Fox News won the cable news ratings race in 2017 while MSNBC posted the most total audience growth.

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