Trump, cable news and the rise of new media

Elon Musk was wearing a black “Make America Great America” hat and an “Occupy Mars” T-shirt when he leaped onstage at President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania in October, generating media attention and buzz.
Musk wasn’t the only non-traditional media mogul who jumped into the 2024 presidential campaign. Joe Rogan’s interview with Trump racked up nearly 40 million views in its first three days, and as of Friday was up to 50 million views. Vice President-elect JD Vance’s interview with Rogan had 17 million views on YouTube. Rogan’s subsequent endorsement of Trump seemed to give Trump an added boost on the waning days of his campaign.
Vice President Kamala Harris sat for some interviews with members of the traditional media, but, especially in her first few weeks, she leaned into new media interviews, going on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast and sitting down with Brené Brown on “Unlocking Us.” Harris’ decision not to agree to an interview with Rogan, one of the most popular podcasters in the U.S., may have cost her votes.
That both the Trump and Harris campaigns focused on non-traditional media and “influencers” during their presidential campaigns shows just how much the media landscape has shifted in the past few election cycles. It also may point to how things could change for traditional media outlets in the aftermath of the 2024 election.
When Trump was elected in 2016, many news outlets, including cable news channels like CNN and Fox News and national news publications like The Washington Post and The New York Times, saw big jumps in viewers and readers. But will Trump’s win this year boost ratings again? Or will new media continue to win viewers at the cost of traditional outlets?
Trust in traditional media has hit rock bottom according to numerous polls. People still visit news websites, but social media and podcasts are growing as sources American adults use to find out the news of the day. Many news consumers are concerned about media bias, and they’re also looking for news sources that present the news in a way that fits with their worldview.
When Pew Research asked U.S. adults if it was important to them that their news source shares their politics, 50% of liberals and 47% of conservatives said it was.
Survey data from NBC News shows Trump voters are more likely to turn to YouTube/Google, social media and cable news for their media consumption. At the time of the survey taken earlier this year, President Joe Biden was still the nominee and the survey showed Biden voters were more likely to favor newspapers, national network news and digital news websites.
A lot of ink has been spilled on conservatives’ issues with traditional media, but this campaign season showed anger among progressives with the media as well. When editorial board endorsements of Harris at The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times were squashed, there was a mass subscriber exodus.
This year also saw fewer viewers tune into cable news on election night.
Over 42 million viewers watched cable news on election night, according to Nielsen ratings. The Hollywood Reporter said Fox News led the pack (hosted by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum) and ABC News came in second. The major networks all saw significant drops in viewership from 2020 though — CNN’s TV audience was basically halved and Fox News was down by about 27%.
While the numbers were down this year, it’s possible a second Trump administration could do what the first one did — contribute to a bump in cable news viewership.
In the aftermath of Trump’s win in 2016, The Washington Post saw a year of record traffic and digital advertising revenue — not to mention an increase in subscriptions, as reported by NPR. Subscriptions at The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Los Angeles Times grew after the 2016 election, too.
Tracking Nielsen ratings from 2014 onward, The Washington Post saw a bump during Trump’s campaign, during his administration and headed into the 2020 election. But then those numbers started to drop.
Podcasts have also been used as launching pads to build new news organizations, including The Daily Wire. Co-founded by popular conservative podcaster Ben Shapiro, the media company produces news articles, podcasts, documentaries as well as movies and children’s programming.
Shapiro and many of his fellow Daily Wire personalities, including Jordan Peterson and Matt Walsh, maintain and grow their audiences through social media engagement.
It’s on social media and YouTube where this media ecosystem thrives — which is why media-savvy candidates like Trump and Harris looked to personalities with large followings on social media to boost their campaigns.
But Harris may have been at a disadvantage in this arena simply because progressive influencers haven’t developed a following in the same way conservatives have.
MSNBC contributor Brian Tyler Cohen said this put Harris at a disadvantage.
“The reason Republicans are winning over so many young people is because the right invests hours and hours, every day, every month, every year in audience-building among its influencer class,” wrote Cohen in a post on X. “We can’t compete by sticking our candidates on an episode one time in October of an election year.”