A dominant performance by Democrats in the 2026 midterms also led – at least for one night – to a realignment of election night media coverage.
Early data from Nielsen shows NBC leading prime time Tuesday night, by a wide enough margin that it can hold on despite further ratings adjustments. That’s a big change from the 2022 midterm elections, when NBC finished fourth among the six most-watched news outlets. NBC also claimed the most-watched live broadcast of election night with its “Kornacki Cam,” focused solely on data analyst and video card operator Steve Kornacki.
In the likely event that the preliminary hearings come to fruition, NBC would be the first broadcast network to lead a federal election night in total viewers since the 2012 presidential election (also dominated by NBC). Media election coverage is already up compared to 2022, but it may not reach the historically high levels of the 2018 midterms.
NBC averaged 6.8 million viewers in prime time, based on Nielsen’s brisk national ratings, including away from home. ABC finished second with 5.12 million viewers. The three largest cable news channels — CNN (4.159 million), MS NOW (4.156 million) and Fox News (4.04 million) — are currently spaced 120,000 viewers apart. CBS is further behind with 2.73 million viewers.
Rapid Nationals does not include Nielsen’s Big Data component, so numbers are subject to change. NBC is expected to maintain its lead in prime time, but the cable networks are so tightly grouped that the order could easily be mixed up. This story will be updated, including comparisons to the networks’ performance four years ago, as more ratings data becomes available.
The combined total of 27.05 million viewers across the six networks is already ahead of the 12 networks’ final total for the 2022 midterms of 25.43 million. The total of 36.11 million viewers across 11 media outlets in 2018, the highest for a midterm election night this century, is probably out of reach.
NBC also had a sizable lead in the core TV commercial demographic for adults 25-54, averaging 2.93 million in prime time. ABC (1.71 million) and CNN (1.55 million) followed, while Fox News (800,000), CBS (771,000) and MS NOW (764,000) were closely grouped. Fox Business, which simulcast the Fox News feed, attracted 323,000 viewers and 77,000 adults 25-54.
The Kornacki Cam live stream generated 29 million views across all platforms, according to NBC News, including 6.1 million on YouTube. It peaked there with some 300,000 simultaneous streams between 8:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. ET.
November 4, 1 p.m. Updated with Nielsen out-of-home ratings.
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