The Los Angeles protests over Donald Trump’s ICE raids have sparked ratings growth across cable news since Friday, as viewers across the country tune in to follow the developing situation while the president deploys thousands of troops to the city.
Most notably, CNN doubled its primetime audience by averaging 765,000 viewers from Friday through Tuesday, according to Nielsen figures, compared to 383,000 for the same week-earlier period. Demo viewership in primetime also saw a 109% spike, as CNN reached 142,000 viewers in the key cable news demo among adults 25-49, from 68,000 demo viewers the previous week.
CNN saw by far the biggest boost, which can also be attributed in part to the protests picking up on Saturday, when the network televised a live performance of George Clooney’s play “Good Night, and Good Luck” — the special scored 7.34 million viewers globally. Still, both Fox News and MSNBC also saw slight upticks in viewership during the period as well.
Fox News averaged 2.32 million primetime viewers from Friday through Tuesday — up 5% from the previous week’s 2.2 million — while MSNBC saw a 12% uptick in viewership to reach 906,000 viewers (up from 809,000 the week prior). Fox and MSNBC also posted demo gains of 17% and 28%, respectively, at 269,000 and 91,000 viewers.
The trend was similar in total-day viewership, though CNN only saw a 52% uptick, to 465,000 viewers, by that measure. Like primetime, CNN saw the biggest increase among the major cable news networks but remained in third place behind Fox (1.48 million) and MSNBC (571,000).
The protests also resulted in a surge for local news in the L.A. market. KCAL, CBS’ local Los Angeles channel, saw a 158% viewership jump during Saturday’s primetime news programming, as well as a 166% increase in viewership during Sunday’s 8-11 p.m. news slot compared to the previous week. Sister station KCBS also saw a 26% increase for its 11 p.m. news.
NBA Finals ratings slide
As expected, having two relatively small-market teams in the NBA Finals has turned out to be drag on ratings.
The first two games between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers averaged 8.84 million viewers, scoring 8.91 million and 8.76 million, respectively, for Games 1 and 2. Viewership for Game 2 fell nearly 30% below last year’s matchup between the Celtics and the Mavericks — which brought in 12.3 million viewers — and marked the least-watched Game 2 since 2007, excluding 2020, when the pandemic-confined game brought in 7.54 million viewers.
NCAA Women’s College World Series makes history
Reflecting continued growth for women’s sports, the 2025 NCAA Women’s College World Series drew a record audience, averaging 1.3 million viewers across 15 games on ESPN. That represents a 24% gain from last year, outpacing the previous high set by the 2021 tournament.
The finals, which pitted Texas against Texas Tech, averaged a total linear viewership of 2.2 million, as both Games 1 and 2 ranked as the most-watched ever (2.1 million viewers) for those contests.
“The Rookie” soars on streaming
ABC procedural “The Rookie” has climbed its way into Nielsen’s streaming charts due to its strong viewing on Hulu, appearing in the company’s top 10 most-watched acquired streaming programs for the past nine weeks and 13 of the 19 weeks reported in 2025.
While the show has benefited from the new season’s next-day viewing on Hulu, Nielsen reports that recent episodes only account for 33% of the show’s 2025 viewing, meaning that most viewers might be discovering the show for the first time on Hulu.
Most recently, “The Rookie” was the No. 5 most-streamed acquired show during the week of May 5, with 674 million viewing minutes, behind frequent list toppers “Bluey” at No. 1, “Grey’s Anatomy” at No. 2, HBO’s “The Last of Us” third and “NCIS” fourth.
