Prime time has turned ugly for MSNBC. The struggling news network has lost more than half its audience since Election Night, as viewers fled MSNBC after Donald Trump won his second term in the White House against Kamala Harris earlier this month.

Here are the scary numbers for MSNBC: The network has averaged 661,000 prime time viewers after the election, up from 1.34 million viewers this year heading into November 5. That equates to a 50.7% decline in viewership since the election.

According to a network source, a ratings decline was expected after the election, and the internal belief is that ratings will begin to rise in January, after Trump’s inauguration. The network source also pointed out that MSNBC suffered a similar ratings decline after the 2016 election, as well as after President Joe Biden’s ill-fated debate with Trump in June.

CNN’s post-election decline wasn’t much better either, with prime time audiences down 39.4% over the same period. (CNN went from an average of 739,000 prime time viewers before the election to an average of 448,000 viewers after the election.)

Fox News, on the other hand, has seen an increase in prime time viewers since Election Day. The right-wing network has averaged 2.96 million prime time viewers over the past three weeks, a 24.4% increase from the 2.38 million viewers it averaged heading into the election.

The ratings decline for MSNBC comes amid an eventful month for the company. Last week, Comcast announced a spinoff plan that would create a separate company called SpinCo, which would house CNBC, MSNBC, E!, Golf Channel, Oxygen and Syfy. Combined, these channels generated $7 billion in revenue between September 2023 and September 2024. Comcast will keep its Peacock streaming service, Bravo and NBC.

The spinoff news also comes as some of MSNBC’s flagship programs have struggled post-election. “Morning Joe” has been particularly hard hit, with viewers ditching the show after co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski revealed they met Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago after the election. Last week, TheWrap reported that “Morning Joe” viewership had dropped 43% since the hosts talked about their Trump encounter.

The future of MSNBC has become a hot topic in media circles lately, following the spinoff news. Elon Musk has joked several times about buying the network, including sharing a spicy meme about buying MSNBC. He also posted a photoshopped photo of himself, Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., eating McDonalds while on an MSNBC set.

Musk may face competition if he actually wants to buy MSNBC. On Tuesday, CNN’s Brian Stelter reported that a billionaire with “liberal bonafides” was also looking to join the network.

The post MSNBC’s audience was cut in half as viewers flee after the election appeared first on TheWrap.