The number of nightly viewers in the 25-to-54 age group preferred by advertisers for news programming has been in the range of 9,000 viewers - nowhere near the 100,000 viewers in the demographic that Nexstar has targeted. Nielsen data show the network averaged 27,000 viewers in prime time during the month of April, compared with 2.2 million viewers for Fox News, 1.6 million for MSNBC and 1 million for CNN. Nexstar executives cited consumer research showing viewers were looking for nonpartisan news coverage.īut after eight months on the air, NewsNation has been plagued by minuscule ratings and internal strife over allegations of meddling in news coverage. NewsNation, with its main studios in Chicago, was touted as an “unbiased” alternative to Fox News, MSNBC and CNN, which fill their prime-time hours with opinion and commentary. In March, WGN America changed its name to NewsNation, and currently has five hours of news programming a night, which is repeated for West Coast viewers. Using the resources of its local TV news operations, the company launched a prime-time newscast, “NewsNation Prime,” in September on its cable outlet WGN America - a nationally distributed network available in 75 million homes - with plans to expand it to a full-time news service.

It seemed like fertile ground for the Irving, Texas-based Nexstar Media Group, the country’s largest owner of TV stations, including Los Angeles outlet KTLA. Surveys of consumers showed that TV news was the second leading reason for keeping a pay-TV subscription, right behind live sports. In 2020, there was nothing hotter on TV than cable news.Ī bruising presidential campaign and a historic pandemic brought in a record number of viewers for CNN, Fox News and MSNBC.

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