CNN’s New Year’s Eve special with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen scored its second biggest midnight viewership in the annual special’s nearly 20 years on the air.
The special, which took place live from New York City’s Times Square celebration, averaged 4.5 million total viewers and 1.8 million viewers in the key cable demo among 25-54 from 12-12:30 a.m., according to live-plus-same-day Nielsen big data plus panel viewing data, marking the event’s second best performance in the time period since it began airing in 2007, behind only 2020. In fact, the special saw a 21% increase in total viewers and a 35% uptick among the 25-54 demo.
For the full event, which ran from 8 p.m.-12:30 a.m., CNN averaged 2.8 million viewers and 1.1 million viewers in the key demo, becoming the event’s second performance since Cohen joined the live event as co-host in 2017. The telecast saw year-over-year increases across all demos, with the special up 47% among total viewers, up 70% among the 25-54 demo and up 93% among the 18-34 demo.
In the 11 p.m.-12:30 a.m. time period, CNN drew 4.2 million total viewers and 1.8 million demo viewers, ranking as the No. 1 cable channel.
Overall, the special boosted CNN to rank as the third most-watched channel on TV, behind only ABC, which aired “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest,” which became the No. 1 entertainment broadcast special of the night, as well as CBS, which aired “New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash.” Among younger audiences in the 18-34 demo, CNN ranked as the No. 2 channel in all of television.
On streaming platforms, the New Year’s Eve special boosted CNN’s streaming service to its biggest daily streaming audience since its launch in October 2025. The special also tallied up the highest number of new subscriptions to CNN since the platform’s debut and marked the best day for live video starts across all digital platforms since launch.
During the special, the hosts, who have been known to get intoxicated during the event, welcomed a number of guests onto the show, including Stephen Colbert, B.J. Novak, Leanne Morgan and Sarah Sherman, among others. Segments of the hosts discussing HBO Max hit “Heated Rivalry” were especially buzzy on social media.
