2024 had its fair share of weather events that received top billing over newsier topics like politics, the economy, business, sports, and entertainment.
Hurricanes dominated the news cycle, with three making landfall within the lower 48 states. Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Texas as a Category 1 storm on July 8; Hurricane Helene landed as a Category 4 on Florida’s Gulf Coast on Sept. 26; and Hurricane Milton made landfall in the Sunshine State in October, touching down as a Category 3 storm.
Helene was the most destructive of the three hurricanes, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) indicating that it was the deadliest hurricane to affect the continental U.S. since Katrina in 2005. The hurricane led to more than 150 direct fatalities, the majority occurring in North Carolina and South Carolina.
These major storms—as well as other weather events taking place throughout the year—kept America’s major weather networks, including The Weather Channel and Fox Weather, very busy.
The Weather Channel
Hurricane Milton was the network’s most-watched weather event of 2024, with October posting its best monthly, weekly, and daily performance. The Weather Channel ranked among the Top 5 cable networks in the advertiser-coveted Adults 25-54 demo between Oct. 7-10 and was the top cable network among that audience on Oct. 9 when the hurricane made landfall. It outperformed the combined viewership of Fox News and CNN on that day.
Holy Milton: THE WEATHER CHANNEL drew a whopping (by cable standards) 3.3M viewers at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday– more than any other cable broadcast in the hour and ahead of anything on ABC or Fox all night Wednesday, as well as CBS’s THE SUMMIT.
— TVMoJoe (@TVMoJoe) October 10, 2024
CGI of what Hurricane Milton can do to Florida.
Wild.
🎥 The Weather Channel pic.twitter.com/oNKeB9pYMs
— HOW THINGS WORK (@HowThingsWork_) October 9, 2024
Outside of its special hurricane coverage, The Weather Channel’s highest-rated program of 2024 was Weekend Recharge, which saw 313,000 total viewers and 48,000 demo viewers on Aug. 4. Its highest-rated primetime show of the year was Highway Through Hell, which attracted 267,000 total viewers and 13,000 demo viewers on Mar. 17.
Fox Weather
Like The Weather Channel, Fox Weather saw significant viewership growth during the month of October due to coverage of Hurricane Milton.
Note: Fox Weather’s viewership is not Nielsen measured as it is primarily distributed as a streaming network. Data sources for Fox Weather streaming: Adobe Analytics, Amagi, Cascada, Roku Portal, Xumo dashboard, Fubo dashboard, YTTV, Tubi dashboard, Hulu, and Nielsen.