This is TVNewser’s basic cable network ranker and cable news report for the week of May 18, 2026.

With the approaching Memorial Day holiday weekend, the cable news networks delivered a variety of results during primetime and total day.

All three recorded week-to-week gains in either total viewers or the Adults 25-54 demo during primetime, while Fox News was the only network to grow in either category during the total day.

NETWORKS:

According to Nielsen big data + panel for the week of May 18, Fox News averaged 2.260 million total viewers and 207,000 A25-54 viewers during primetime. The network was down -1% in total viewers but grew by +2% in the demo compared to the week prior (the week beginning May 11). 

During total day viewing, Fox News averaged 1.501 million total viewers and 138,000 A25-54 viewers. Based on its average from the previous week’s measurements, the network saw gains of +2% in total viewers but registered a -3% decline in the demo.

Fox News slipped to second in total primetime viewership and remained third in demo viewership among all basic cable networks. During total day, it finished first in total viewers and was No. 2 in the total day demo.

MS NOW averaged 918,000 total viewers and 81,000 viewers in the A25-54 demo for the week that just concluded. The network was up +2% in total viewers but was down -7% in the demo compared to its primetime average the week prior.

During total day, MS NOW averaged 578,000 total viewers and 56,000 demo viewers. It was down -1% in total viewers and -10% in the demo compared to the network’s average the week prior.

Among all basic cable networks, MS NOW remained third in total primetime viewers and dropped to 17th in the demo. It finished in third place in total viewers and slipped to 11th from ninth in the total day demo. 

CNN averaged 598,000 total primetime viewers and 108,000 A25-54 viewers during primetime for the week of May 18. The network declined by -10% in total viewers but increased its viewership by +4% in the demo compared to the previous week. 

During total day, the network had 439,000 total viewers and 67,000 viewers in the demo. CNN declined by -2% in total viewers and -3% in the demo during this daypart.

Among all cable networks, CNN remained in fifth in total viewers and 10th in the demo during primetime. It was No. 4 in total day among total viewers and slipped from seventh to eighth in the demo. 

When looking at these networks’ performance during the same period a year ago:

• During primetime, Fox News was down by -7% in total viewers and -18% in the A25-54 demo. During total day, the network posted losses of -4% in total viewers and -21% in the demo—the only network with declines within this yearly comparison.
• MS NOW was up +16% in total viewers and +35% in the demo. During total day, the network was up +10% in total viewers and +24% in the demo.
• In primetime, CNN grew by +55% in total viewers and +64% in the demo. During total day, it rose by +27% in total viewers and +20% in the demo.

PROGRAMMING:

Fox News had 13 out of the 15 spots of the most-watched cable news shows of the week, with The Five on top with 3.543 million total viewers at 5 p.m. ET. MS NOW was represented in the chart by The Rachel Maddow Show, which airs only on Mondays at 9 p.m. ET and ranked eighth with 1.863 million total viewers. The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, airing weeknights at 10 p.m. ET, was the other MS NOW show in the chart with 1.359 million total viewers at No. 15.

The Five also finished first in the Adults 25-54 demo, averaging 324,000 viewers at 9 p.m. ET on weeknights. Fox News held 13 of the 15 top spots in the demo, with MS NOW’s The Rachel Maddow Show landing in 8th place with 163,000 demo viewers. CNN was represented in the chart at No. 14 by CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip, airing weeknights at 10 p.m. ET, with 150,000 demo viewers.

May 18, 2026 (Nielsen Big Data + Panel):

Prime Time

Total Day

Week 5-18-26 Cable Ranker P25-54 BDP by Adweek

We’re living through one of the most fragmented periods in media and cultural history, and because of that, people are returning to real‑world experiences with more desire, emotion, and urgency than ever before. 

In a world where everything can be watched on delay, FOMO has taken on a deeper meaning. 

From stadiums to concerts to brand pop‑ups, fans want to do more than see it. They want to experience it for themselves in real-time. 

This is especially visible in sport, where global sporting attendance has surpassed pre-pandemic demand. 

The live fan experience—the emotions, atmosphere, and cultural layers—have gone from being add-ons to becoming part of the core offering. 

At The Masters, fans didn’t just want to watch Rory McIlroy defend his title, they wanted to be part of the historic moment, from the immaculate course, the rituals, and the green-jacket ceremony—all of which create exclusivity and occasion. That experience is what makes Augusta a cultural moment that extends beyond its world-class golf.

The organizations that win next won’t be the loudest ones, but the ones who can reimagine consumer experiences by blending sport, entertainment, hospitality, technology, and community into something that feels less like an event and more like stepping into a new world.

David Ogilvy once said: “If you can’t be brilliant, at least be memorable.” 

In the live experience revival, memorability is the ultimate differentiator. People don’t return for functional experiences alone, they return for emotional ones. 

And this shift isn’t confined to sport. Luxury brands are building pop‑ups that feel like temporary universes. Ralph Lauren, Dior, and Rhode are just a few of many who are turning stores into experiences, galleries, and social spaces. Music artists are designing tours that live as cultural moments, not concerts. 

The common thread? People want experiences that feel intentional, entertaining, and worth their time. 

AI will undoubtedly play a role in this evolution. It will help personalize journeys, anticipate needs and remove friction. However, it will still be the human moments that people remember—the arrival, the atmosphere, the unexpected interaction and the shared emotions—none of which can be automated. 

Memories and moments have become the most valuable currency in modern fandom. They’re what people talk about, post about and return for.

For CMOs, this creates both an opportunity and a challenge. The opportunity is to design experiences that deepen emotional connection and unlock new forms of loyalty. The challenge is that this requires a different mindset—one that prioritizes meaning and creativity, resonance over reach, and long‑term brand equity over short‑term optimization.

It also requires courage. The courage to invest in creativity. The courage to elevate the physical experience. The courage to design for belonging rather than attendance. Because capturing future fandom—whether in sport, entertainment, retail, or hospitality – isn’t just about scale, it’s about creating experiences that people want to return to, belong to, and can’t help but champion.

Fans don’t want a seat. They want a story. And they’ll choose the brands that make them feel something over the brands that simply show them something.

Driven by the intersection of sport, style and entertainment, SailGP is launching its latest hospitality experience this month at the Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix. VELA Prive represents a new era of waterfront culture – a beach club concept designed to bring fans closer to the racing, where world-class sport, elevated hospitality, culture and entertainment all come together in a unique new offering.

In the spring of 2023, Axios Local hit the brakes. 

The network of local newsletters had spread to 30 markets in under three years, but it had missed its revenue goal, was unprofitable, and decided to stop expanding until it could prove the markets it already entered could make money.

Three years later, expansion has resumed. The program is now on track to be in 43 markets by the end of the year, nearly halfway to its eventual goal of 100 metro areas. The Local business is generating “tens of millions” in revenue with multiple profitable markets, and last week it quietly hit its first-half revenue goal, according to chief operating officer Allison Murphy. 

Overall, Axios beat its first-half revenue target earlier this month, capping a fourth straight year of double-digit growth, although it declined to share further financial specifics. As a whole, the company is profitable.

The company, which launched in 2017 and was acquired by Cox Enterprises in August 2022 for $525 million, has reached these milestones by being an early adopter of a strategy that has since come to be widely emulated. 

By targeting niche, professional audiences without adopting a widespread paywall, the publisher has been able to sell advertisers on a compelling blend of scale and influence, according to chief revenue officer Jacquelyn Cameron. Its embrace of newsletters, from which it has since expanded, also insulated the news brand from the traffic declines now upending publishers whose businesses were built on the open web. 

“We have proven that there is more power and opportunity in 535 than 535,000,” Cameron said, referencing the number of members of Congress. “Premium or die.”

That philosophy is visible across the national business. Advertising still accounts for the vast majority of revenue, the bulk of which is sold directly to clients and increasingly anchored in thought leadership aimed at five distinct audience profiles. In May, CEO and founder Jim VandeHei launched an application-only newsletter for C-suite executives that has already grown past 4,000 readers and will exit beta in June with an underwriter attached.

The events business, Axios Live, is growing more than 30% year over year and now generates tens of millions of dollars, according to Cameron. Its sizable presence at Cannes Lions in June will generate 50% more revenue than 2025 and be profitable for a second consecutive year. 

None of that, on its own, distinguishes Axios from the rest of the premium cohort. News outlets ranging from Semafor to The Wall Street Journal have introduced exclusive newsletters, and business-facing events have proliferated thanks to their value as physical touchpoints for enterprise marketing. 

The harder, more distinctive bet is on addressing the local news crisis, an economic challenge that few news brands have sought to solve, let alone even attempt. 

Now, the company is betting that artificial intelligence will change that calculus, and the centerpiece of the gamble is an expanded partnership with OpenAI. 

The original deal, struck in January 2025, provided cash that enabled Axios to hire reporters and absorb the startup costs of new markets, along with providing the publisher enterprise access and a large allotment of usage tokens, according to Murphy. 

In exchange, OpenAI gets permission to use Axios content for training and access to its feed for retrieval. The first phase funded four cities. The second round, announced this January, will support an additional seven to nine, according to Murphy.

Crucially, the new markets look different from the old ones. Where Axios once entered the largest metro areas with two or three reporters apiece, it is now expanding into smaller, one-reporter geographies—places like Boulder and Colorado Springs—and grouping them into regions, or “local supersystems,” to build awareness and reach sustainability faster.

The shared infrastructure makes this phase of expansion more viable, as the technology costs of adding another reporter to a preexisting system are minimal.

In addition to its funding from OpenAI, Axios is also using its technology to build out a fleet of AI-enabled tools.

Similar to a content-management system, this platform gives every reporter a personalized daily feed of their community’s news and a suite of automations, from data visualization to “localizer” technology that adapts a story written for Austin to run in Dallas. The full version of the platform is expected to be operational in September, when the local team holds its annual retreat.

And while other media brands work to coax staff into embracing AI, at Axios the buy-in has been largely enthusiastic. When the outlet sought 15 internal AI champions, Murphy said, 100 employees volunteered. One reporter used Claude Code to generate 43 versions of a single data chart, one for each community. 

“You are either on the bus or you are not at this point,” Murphy said.

Still, Axios is careful to frame Local as an investment business rather than a finished success. 

The national business has been profitable for years; Local has multiple profitable markets and is hitting its margin benchmarks, but the portfolio as a whole is not yet profitable. Subscriptions—roughly 15,000 paying members across Local—will only ever be part of the mix; Murphy estimates they may one day reach 25% to 30% of local revenue.

And even if the unit economics ultimately work, a more fundamental question hangs over the model: whether it actually addresses the local news crisis it positions itself against. 

Chris Krewson, executive director of LION Publishers, a trade association for independent local newsrooms, argues that the Axios Local model depends on the availability of original reporting that it does not itself produce as a standard newsroom would. 

As a result, the company is “additive” only in a narrow commercial sense, in that it captures advertising dollars in markets it previously could not access.

“Axios Local is generally not investing in shoe-leather beat reporting and spade work,” Krewson said, “because it would take too many people, and that’s too expensive.”

Holly Moore, the executive editor of Axios Local, pushed back on that characterization, saying that the majority of content produced in the newsletters is original or sourced from a centralized team that identifies and localizes nationwide trends.

Either way, five years in and the project still remains a gamble. The supersystem may finally make premium local news pencil out. Or it might just reach the same plateau Axios hit before, only this time with better tooling.

Change is coming to 60 Minutes: CBS News announced the appointment of Nick Bilton as executive producer of the long-running newsmagazine show.

The author of two New York Times bestsellers, Bilton was previously a columnist for The New York Times and a special correspondent at Vanity Fair. He is also a filmmaker, having written, directed, and produced Fake Famous, a 2021 documentary about a social experiment in which three regular people faked fame to become social media influencers.

As a result of the appointment, CBS News announced that Tanya Simon, who had been serving as executive producer of the show, would be departing the network.

In announcing Bilton’s hiring in a note to staff, CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss and CBS News president Tom Cibrowski said they are “thrilled” to have him lead 60 Minutes into its next chapter. They said his energy and ambition matched those of the show’s founders.

The duo characterized his prior work as one that prompted federal investigations, congressional inquiries, and criminal charges.

Bilton will be tasked with expanding 60 Minutes beyond a one-hour television broadcast, “deepening its role across CBS News, and holding everything we produce to the ambition, fairness, and fearlessness that have defined 60 Minutes at its best,” according to the pair.

Here’s the Bari Weiss and Tom Cibrowski memo announcing a big overhaul of @60Minutes:

Dear Colleagues,

During the first-ever 60 Minutes broadcast, CBS News’s Harry Reasoner opened the show—a first of its kind television newsmagazine—by calling it “a sort of new approach.” That…

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) May 28, 2026

In his introductory note to staff, Bilton said his job is to ensure 60 Minutes does not suffer the same fate as many other entities that failed to adapt to changing times, noting, “Evolving or dying isn’t a threat. It’s simple math.”

Bilton also spoke about the “notebook full of ideas” that he has about the show, future correspondents, as well as about how 60 Minutes only produces one hour of television “in a world that consumes content around the clock.”

Over the next month, Bilton will be going on an internal meet-the-people tour, hearing from staffers about what they are working on, what is working, what isn’t, and what opportunities they would like to explore.

It’s the honor of my career to become the executive producer of 60 Minutes. I just shared the note below with the incredible staff and can’t wait to get started. pic.twitter.com/4PHmHJF3Bj

— Nick Bilton (@nickbilton) May 28, 2026

Prior to Bilton’s appointment, Simon served as executive producer since July 2025, taking the role after Bill Owen’s sudden exit from the program in April 2025, citing a loss of journalistic independence as the reason for his departure.

In the same note announcing Bilton’s hire, Weiss and Cibrowski addressed Simon’s departure, saying she has “dedicated more than three decades to 60 Minutes, and she has served the institution with enormous care, professionalism, and devotion.”

In a separate note to her 60 Minutes colleagues, Simon said, “It has been an immense privilege to lead this broadcast, and I could not be prouder of what we have built, fought for, and delivered together over the last year.”

Here’s Tanya Simon’s note to staff on her exit from 60 Minutes. pic.twitter.com/ICnYOoD2qu

— Ted Johnson (@tedstew) May 28, 2026

Reports have also indicated that, in addition to Simon’s departure, executive editor Draggan Mihailovich, producer Guy Campanile, and correspondent Cecilia Vega have also been let go, and the network has officially parted ways with Sharyn Alfonsi.

Alfonsi’s departure was no surprise, as she was at the center of the controversy revolving the shelving of the 60 Minutes piece on the Trump administration deporting Venezuelan men to the maximum security prison CECOT in El Salvador back in December. 

At the time, she called out Weiss, and, in a statement on Wednesday, said her departure from 60 Minutes was a “deliberate choice to penalize a journalist for refusing to sanitize factually accurate reporting, and it sends a chilling message to the entire newsroom.”

In addition to those exits, Anderson Cooper departed from the program nearly two weeks ago.

Bilton’s appointment to lead 60 Minutes could rankle some within the network, as he is an outsider with minimal television experience tasked with steering the award-winning program into the future, which somewhat parallels Weiss’s appointment when she joined CBS News in October 2025.

All of this is happening as the news show on Wednesday night was the recipient of two Emmy Awards at the 47th annual News & Documentary Emmys ceremony. Scott Pelley’s feature on the War in Gaza took home the Emmy for Outstanding Hard News Report, and the news program won another Emmy for Outstanding Extended Breaking News Coverage on the California fires.

Want to lead CTV strategy instead of just executing it? Join the ADWEEK MiniMBA in Marketing and gain the MBA-level expertise that can accelerate your career. Sign up here.